Fragment of a Wish
by goxeris
Summary: There are those chosen by destiny, and those hated by it. Shard and Emer will find it out the hard way when they are summoned to Ravenwood, School of Magical Arts. When a powerful Necromancer plans something that could spell disaster for the whole spiral, it is up to the savior of Wizard City to stop him. That's all nice and good, but a single question remains: Who is the savior?
1. Black Cat

**Author's notes:**

 **Hello everyone, I am goxeris and this is my first attempt at writing a story, so please bear with me and try hard not to murder me in my sleep for eventual mistakes( I am quite sure there are many that I couldn't spot).**

 **Decided to shorten A/Ns and fix the chapter up a bit. Now it should be way better than before. Yay! :D**

 **Thank you, Emily, for the fantastic cover!**

 **I do not own Wizard101 or any character except for my OCs.**

* * *

 ** _Chapter 1- Black Cat_**

* * *

The orphanage's window opened up to the inner courtyard. Hugged by smooth, grey walls, the small field was rather barren, with only a bunch of blades of grass barely peaking out from the soil. A broken bench stood under a single withered tree, whose sickly yellow leaves, moved lazily at the wind's every whim.

The curtains were almost completely shut, but soft rays of light managed to pierce through the tattered cloth anyway, illuminating the dark room beyond them. Standing just behind the curtains and keeping himself hidden from sight, a young boy discreetly spied outside.

He wore a baggy grey t-shirt and baggy black pants, completing the depressing outfit with worn out brown shoes. His black hair could be described as messy and his green eyes were of a pale green color, almost transparent, as if someone had forcibly stolen the light from them long ago. The boy's gaze was fixed on a black cat, which, in the middle of the courtyard, was intent on licking its paw with slow and precise motions. No collar around its neck and rough, unkept fur, gave away the lifestyle of a stray.

Suddenly, the black cat tensed. The unclean paw forgotten on the side as its gaze flickered upwards to stare back at the silent observer. An amused glimmer in its eyes; a silent challenge directed to the boy.

"Shard, what are you doing?"

The boy turned around, surprised by the sudden sound. In his sudden movement, he stepped on a small toy train, lost his balance and fell unceremoniously on the floor with a thud.

"You caught me off-guard, "Shard exclaimed, looking at the newly arrived person in the room.

A girl looked back at him. Her brown hair, cascading gently to her shoulders and her cheeks, sprinkled with light freckles, were puffed in a useless attempt at supressing her laughter.

"It's not my fault you get scared so easily, you know? I merely asked a question," she said, rolling her own pair of green eyes, akin to gems sparkling with vitality.

"I was just… looking at the cat…" Shard answered plainly, waiting for her reaction as he got up from the floor.

"you mean it came back even today?" She asked, seemingly in deep thought for a few seconds. Then, with a few stealthy steps, she made her way to the window to look outside.

Shard approached her, peering above her shoulder and whispering in her ear, "do you see it? There, on the other side of the courtyard, near the wall."

The girl shook her head and frowned. "No, not even a thing. It is the first time that happens to me."

Shard sighed and asked, "you do believe me, right?"

The girl's frown left its place to a smirk. "Of course I do! who do you think you are talking to? I'm not as blind as the others here." After a short pause, she added," It really is weird though. It's usually me the one with the best sight between us."

A shrug of the girl's shoulders and a huff gave away her reluctance at pursuing the subject any further. turning her back to the window, she patted Shard's shoulder and said, "There is no reason to worry. Nothing ever happens, and besides, nobody would believe us if we said that a black cat is stalking you."

Shard nervously gripped the curtain, moving his hand down the rough fabric, "Normally I wouldn't mind it, but this time it's different."

"Why?" The girl asked, gently tilting her head in curiosity.

"Think about it. You can't see it and I can. That is weird by itself. Then it looks at me whenever I look at it, even when I'm hiding. I also feel anxious whenever it's around. It feels like it's waiting for me to do something... I don't feel safe around it."

"I see… well let's go do something then. Lead me to this scary cat and we'll shoo it off in no time," she joked with a warm smile.

"alright… thanks, Emer."

After a couple of minutes, the two children were exiting in the court yard with the excuse of playing outside. They had been especially careful not to reveal their true intentions to the other children at the orphanage. Nobody would have understood their concerns. They would have been called crazy, or if they got lucky, everybody would have thought of it as a game.

The only danger so far had been meeting Ralph, a fifteen years old boy who liked to tease them for everything. Recently he had overheard one of their talks, and since then, he had started calling them freaks. Apparently, having long conversations on imaginary things only they could see, wasn't considered very normal.

Life was harsh for Shard; everyone never seemed to remember his name or being actually interested in befriending him. It was as if he couldn't create a connection with those around him, no matter how hard he tried.

Such instances, also happened at school and Shard had long abandoned the faint hope of getting recognized by his own teachers. Whenever he raised his hand, be it to ask a question, or simply to ask permission to go to the toilet, he was always met with the same, surprised gaze. The teacher would then blink a couple of times, almost as if the boy in front of him was a mirage, and then ask whether Shard was new in class.

Needless to say, Shard quickly got tired of repeating his name over and over again to the exact, same people. He was lonely. Completely alone in a world where nobody could ever come to care for him.

Then a miracle happened, or rather bumped into him at the orphanage. Emer had just moved in from somewhere else. He never had the courage to ask where she was from, and she never told him. After a few days it was clear that she actually managed to remember his name, and after that, many others eventually did too.

She was quite clever at school, had a big tolerance for others and would try to keep up a cheery mood wherever she went, making people instantly want to talk to her. It was as if some of her brilliance had somehow rubbed onto him just by hanging out with her, and Shard felt quite happy about it. At least he didn't have to remind the caretaker to prepare food for him every day.

Finally they arrived in the middle of the courtyard. Cold gusts of wind blowed directly on Shard's face, giving him a freezing welcome. At first he would have gone outside without putting anything heavy on, but now he was glad for Emer's insistence in bringing a coat.

They walked in straight line towards the black cat who just continued on with its staring contest. Once they thought they were close enough, Shard greeted it nervously, ignoring the strong sense of urgency that told him to run away as fast as possible.

"Hello," he said.

The cat didn't flinch. It just looked at him more intensely.

"So… it is there right?" Emer asked, looking aimlessly in front of herself.

"Yes," Shard replied. He made a step forward and was surprised to see the cat react. It stood up on its four paws and purred loudly, approaching them with its innocent cat face.

Shard didn't move, hoping that the animal would try to make friendly contact of its own accord, although, for some reason, he thought that it could have been more likely that the creature would have tried to murder them for interrupting whatever it was doing.

Fear rose in his gut and blood froze in his veins. _Why was he afraid of a cat?_

The cat stopped purring and eventually ignored them, moving slowly towards the tree at the centre of the yard. It stopped in its tracks, turning towards them once again only to meow.

Shard felt his fear decreasing as the cat walked away. He had no idea why he suddenly was afraid of a stray cat, but he wanted to know the reason of its presence there.

"It's moving towards the tree," he informed Emer as he, mustering all his courage, gave chase to the animal.

Emer nodded, straightened up in determination, and stared stared at the plant as if it was a task of the utmost importance.

While Shard slowly shortened the distance between himself and the cat, he decided to try and touch it. He was fully aware that it was a stupid thing to do, but the animal wouldn't let him be. It was possible that the black cat would have haunted him for the rest of his life if he didn't do something about it.

The cat moved slowly towards the tree, purring louder and louder. Shard walked after it without uttering a word and arriving at the tree base just instants before the black cat disappeared behind the trunk. Turning around the tree, in hopes of intercepting the animal, Shard found himself staring at the empty ground.

"it disappeared!" he exclaimed turning to Emer for further instructions.

"I see… well hopefully it won't come back," she told him, not hiding a sigh of relief.

Shard Stared at the tree for a few seconds with a thoughtful expression painted on his face. "It shouldn't be possible. Where did it go? It certainly didn't climb up and there are no hiding places around here."

"Well, I guess you'll become a detective once you grow up. Right now you have the same expression of that guy who was on TV last night," Emer said. Then, she winked and added," If you somehow manage to find a corpse, tell me so I run away as fast as I can, okay?"

"I guess there is no use in staying here," admitted Shard more to himself than to Emer.

"Yes, yes, why don't we go back inside where is warm and couches exist? I am freezing to death right now." Emer's proposal didn't seem one that admitted arguing in any shape or form. She didn't even wait for Shard to agree with her and started walking straight towards the door.

"But you are wearing a heavy winter coat… and it's not even autumn yet! we are still on the first of September!" Shard complained, chasing after her.

"Freeeeeziiiiing!" was the only answer he ever got.

* * *

 ** _Fragment of a Wish_**

* * *

"So, will you finally give up and succumb to my evil army of impending doom?" Emer asked, looking to her friend with an air of superiority.

"Maybe I still have a way to avoid that…" Shard answered, looking at a wide map with many troops standing on top, most of which were of a shocking pink color, perfect for world domination.

"If you were thinking of moving your tank in the sandwich kingdom, I already predicted it. Sorry I won," explained the girl with a wide grin.

Shard looked at his blue troops and noticed that she was actually right.

"Okay I lost… not that it could have gone in any other way. Anyhow, please stop naming countries with weird names! It doesn't even resemble a sandwich to begin with!".

"Oh don't be annoying. It's fun," she told him, taking her tanks out of the so called 'Ice Cream Republic'.

Shard couldn't help but feel that something was off. Emer looked very serious as she put the pieces back in the box .

"you know… it was a nice match we had this time," she blurted out.

Shard put his own army back where it belonged and asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"well… I guess there is no way I can hide it anymore… I won't be staying here for long," she said, making long pauses as if to choose the right words.

"Oh," Shard said, shocked by the sudden revelation.

"Yes, oh indeed," replied Emer.

Shard felt as if a heavy building just crashed on top of him. She was the only friend that he had been able to make in years. Actually she had been his only friend in his whole life! Once she was gone, he would be left alone again.

"You see I am sort of going to a new school. They have dormitories there so I won't stay here," she continued to talk, every word sounding like an apology.

"I see… but why so suddenly?" Shard asked desperately avoiding eye contact .

"I sort of won a scholarship for… natural talent, in… art?"she hesitated, as if unsure herself.

"But you drew weird blobs all throughout the year," stated Shard plainly.

"Oh well… you know… that kind of art is very popular these days."

There was something that she wasn't telling him, but Shard decided to avoid putting pressure on her.

"Congratulations. I am happy for you," he said, telling a half truth, "so, when are you leaving?" He asked, expecting at least a couple of days.

"Tomorrow," she answered, her expression akin to that of a dog ready to be yelled at, complete with big puppy eyes.

Shard really appreciated that his friend's merits were acknowledged, but on the other hand, he was also sad at the news, and felt betrayed by her hiding it until now.

He decided to do just like she always did in similar situations in order to lighten the mood, and with a grin he said, "so… do you want to do a rematch? I must win at least once before you leave!"

She blinked her eyes at the sudden change of mood, and then, taking out one of her loyal pink tanks she answered, "not in a million years!"

* * *

 ** _Fragment of a Wish_**

* * *

In the end, Shard didn't win. Emer's luck and seemingly random decisions made her an impossibly strong opponent. He enjoyed it a lot though and could accept it as his last memory of her. Things were bound to be harder for him after his friend left.

Shard lied on his bed, wide awake. The other three boys in the room were snoring loudly. Two of them had caught a cold after they had unsuccesfully tried to pull off a prank on another boy.

They had thrown cold water out of a window as he passed. According to eye witnesses, the prank backfired because the boy didn't pass under that particular window, and one of the two boys was too impatient to wait for him. He went to call him, thus walking under the window himself. His partner's betrayal was bound to happen.

The victim then sought revenge and used another bucket full of water to punish his former partner. That was what Shard had come to understand anyways.

The full picture could have actually been extremely convoluted, with many hidden truths and plot twists, making it look like crime fiction. It might have also been an obvious hint of a great conspiracy that touched hidden truths of cosmic proportions, but fortunately, Shard wasn't involved and couldn't care less about it.

His only problem now was that not only did he have to bear with the natural snorer beside him, but the other two were helping as sidekicks in an all out concert. He got up, frustrated by the unending noise and looked at the clock. It was barely visible in the darkness, enlightened by a weak ray of light, which filtrated through the almost closed curtains. It showed that it was a quarter to midnight.

 _Great I won't be able to sleep this night,_ he thought, aware that the noise wouldn't decrease any time soon.

All of a sudden he felt a sudden chill that ran down his spine. He instantly got up and walked as silently as possible to the window, drawing open the curtains by a few centimeters just to look outside. The black cat stood in the middle of the courtyard, watching. He felt anger rise in his body. _Why does it have to happen to me?_

As silently as possible he put his clothes on, led by the impelling desire of getting rid of that ominous presence. Just as he walked out of the room and down the stairs to the kitchen he couldn't help but ask himself where did his fear go. On any normal day, he would have just hidden somewhere and hoped for the night to be over quickly, but this time, he felt pulled outside as if by an external force.

The door leading to the courtyard was wide open and he passed through it thinking that it was weird. It was always locked during the night. Not even once it had been forgotten wide open like this. He dashed towards the old bench and the tree, tolerating the cold air that engulfed him in an unpleasant hug.

The cat stood near the tree, purring happily. Shard came closer, almost close enough to touch it. He didn't manage to do it. As soon as he lifted his shaky hand, the cat moved behind the tree, exactly as it did earlier that morning.

Shard chased it quickly and gasped at the sight of the trunk. There was a big hole in it, big enough for him to enter. The darkness inside of it was mesmerizing.

Something moved in the dark and Shard reached out to touch it without thinking. It was as if he couldn't help but obey despite his entire being protesting against the action. He felt a huge force akin to a large vortex pulling him inside and the next thing he knew, was that he was floating in pitch-black shadows.

The hole from which he came couldn't be found anywhere. Looking more closely in the distance, he could spot bright shining lights similar to stars. The darkness all around was pressing harder and harder on his body making it difficult to think. He tried to scream but no sound came out of his lungs. He tried to move but his body wouldn't respond. He tried to breath but failed.

For the first time in his life he experienced the horrible feeling of looking at Death itself, and the fear of Death looking back at him waving happily with a toothy grin.

Then he saw a light. It shone brighter than all the others and was moving quickly towards him. It could have also been possible the other way round and it was him who was moving towards it. A few seconds later, he found himself crashing into the light and falling, falling in its brightness and losing consciousness in the process.

It was one minute past midnight. A new day had just begun.

* * *

 **So, what do you think so far? I had lots of fun writing it and I can't stop thinking on the many ways all of it could go. I hope you had fun too and that I didn't bore you to death.**

 **:D hopeful smiley face for good measure**


	2. An unexpected arrival

**_Author's notes_**

 ** _Thank you everyone for following, reviewing or simply spending time reading this story. I am also extremely grateful to Jones Ross for his amazing job as a beta reader. The chapter is hundred times better now than it was before. As always constructive criticism is appreciated. The disclaimer:_**

 ** _I do not own Wizard 101 or any of the characters except for my OC and well... I do not own the cover picture either._**

 ** _And on with the story_**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2- An unexpected arrival**_

* * *

Shard couldn't feel anything at all. It was as if his soul had been ripped away from his body, rending null all of his senses. Some time passed, but he couldn't tell if it was seconds, minutes, or hours.

He felt a flat surface under him. It had appeared inconspicuously, as if the darkness had slowly become solid to sustain him. His body was slowly coming back under his control, so he tried to reach out to inspect the surface. Surprisingly, it was smooth and tepid to the touch and he realized that it was probably made of wood.

It took a few seconds for him to remember being in possession of a pair of functional eyes, and when he finally did, he opened them.

His sight was unfocused and the change in luminosity made it difficult to make up the surroundings. Keeping the eyes open out of pure stubborness, Shard managed to get a vague understanding of the place. It was a big, round room with many sources of light shining on the walls, similar to stars brightening the night sky.

While he waited for his sight to adjust, he heard someone ask, "Who are you?"

 _That is what I should be asking,_ he thought, looking around for the source of the voice.

"It doesn't matter, Gamma, there are more important issues right now. Don't you see that they are injured?" another voice replied in a worried tone.

Shard started to take in the surroundings as his sight, slowly came back to him. He was in a big circular room with a wooden floor and stone walls, which were stocked with bookshelves full of incredibly big dusty tomes. Banners and tapestries were hanged all over the place, depicting criptic symbols such as stars, moons and suns. Once he could see properly, the light didn't seem bright at all. It belonged to a set of torches, set far apart from each other, giving the place a mystical atmosphere.

An old man sporting an incredibly long white beard stood right in front of Shard. He wore a purple robe, decorated with golden moons and stars and atop his head, stood firm, a matching pointed hat. He was holding tight to a staff with a luminous blue globe at the top contained in a large golden hook, taking his time to adjust a monocle on his right eye. In short, he looked exactly like he Always imagined wizards would look like.

 _Where did I end up to?_ Shard thought, blinking in bewilderment.

"Oh my, this is quite interesting indeed," muttered the man, stopping in his tracks and eyeing the boy with a quizzical look.

"There is no time, Merle, you said it yourself didn't you? we need to bring this one to the infirmary quickly," said the first voice in a mocking tone.

It came out from a grey owl not much farther away, who was wearing a mortarboard on its head, purple cloth around his neck, decorated similarly to the man's robe, and a pair of glasses on its beak.

Shard was at a complete loss for words after hearing the animal talk.

 _I am dreaming. That's it_.

As he looked in Gamma's direction, he understood the reason for the owl's agitation. There was a girl curled up on the floor beside him. A girl with shoulder-lenght brown hair and closed eyes. Even in her state of unconsciousness, she hugged her backpack tightly as if her life depended on it. Shard's eyes widened in realization: It was Emer.

"Wait, what happened to her?!" Shard panicked, trying to get closer.

The old man shifted his gaze away from him, declaring in a mumble that Shard seemed absolutely fine, and walked straight towards Emer.

Shard would have liked to know on what basis did he make that declaration, but he had trouble speaking, almost as if he was a foreigner in his own body. The many questions climbing up in his throat disappeared once he realized that Emer's state seemed to be far worse than his. She wasn't waking up.

The utter lack of response from his legs forced him to a slow crawl on the floor. Mere metres, looked like going on forever as every unsteady push of Shard's arms to propel himself forward amounted to almost nothing.

The old man was completely focused on Emer and uttered gibberish as he leaned on his staff. From time to time, he stopped to listen to the owl, who flew in cirlces up above, procuring advice.

"It would be best to provide first aid before moving her," the wizard look-alike said, gently waving his staff in Emer's direction.

Shard's eyes widened in surprise as a pale green light started to glow all around his friend's body.

"What are you doing...? What is happening?" he faltered, his voice as low as a whisper.

"Hush, boy, the headmaster is focusing. Her wounds are worse than you might think," the owl hooted in reply, landing on the floor and folding his wings.

Shard looked around the room again and whispered to himself, "Is this some sort of nightmare?"

Nobody answered. The room utterly silent if it weren't for the continuous flow of gibberish coming out of the man's mouth.

"What is it now?" said the old man out of the blue, turning his head toward a door on the other side of the room.

Shard followed his gaze and noticed the reason for the man's reaction. Something was coming. It wasn't a matter of what could be seen or heard, but more of a matter of what could be sensed.

Waves of malice unfurled and stretched just beyond the fragile-looking, wodden door. Shard's skin crawled in repulsion and his heart thumped in his chest without control.

"Why him?! In a situation like this hoot! How did he even make it past the golems so easily?!" Gamma hooted angrily, flapping his wings towards the wooden door, looking like he wanted to sweep the malevolent presence away with them.

The mad thumping in Shard's chest increased even further and he was sure that if the speed increased any more, his heart would have simply exploded. Fear clawed its way into him, making his blood run cold and his mind go blank.

An empty void, that threatened swallowing his very being, lurked at the borders of his consciousness. Shard had experienced the same emotions when looking at the black cat, but this time, it was far worse.

"Merle, she has to wait for now," commented the owl, without taking his eyes off the door.

"Why must he choose now, of all times?" mumbled Merle, suspending the spell. "Take care of them," he ordered to Gamma, slowly walking to the middle of the room.

The door slammed open on its own and the room darkened. The light of the torches, extnguished by an ominous wind.

Shard's imagination ran wild. Numerous thoughts, each scarier and more desperate than the other, overlapped in his mind. Corpses, ghosts, terrible creatures which lurked in shadowy corners. The room itself seemed way more terrifying each time his imagination conjured up another vision. Whatever was coming was undoubtedly far worse than anything he could imagine, his fear assured him of it.

All those thoughts, brought him closer to a great chasm of despair. He was doomed. He just knew. There was no reason to continue on with his miserable life, there was just a simple step to finally find peace. Death would welcome him with open arms.

"Snap out of it! Don't let your fears empower him," hooted the owl, hitting Shard with its wing. Surprisingly, it worked, and the boy shook his head to clear his mind. The vivid visions, disappearing as soon as his rêverie was interrupted.

At the door, stood a tall man with black robes. He carried a long staff ending with a red orb, swallowed by a golden dragon head.

The man was as still as a statue, eyeing the purple wizard with an air of superiority. His swept back, black hair, long moustache, and goatee gave him a solemn look, but the most frightening thing about him were his lifeless black eyes, similar to dark gorges, ready to take in whatever could fill the void inside.

"Malistaire!" said the old man as if trying to define the newcomer as a whole.

"Ambrose," Malistaire sneered back. The two wizards faced off in silence, weighing each other as neither of the two seemed to dare making the first move.

"You are no longer welcome here! Why have you returned?" Ambrose asked, suspicion dripping from his calm words.

"I am here to resolve some unfinished business," Malistaire said nonchalantly. "Are those your latest students? The girl has indeed great potential. I could sense her magic as soon as she traveled through the portal. Powerful and free, just like Sylvia's. Perhaps, she might help me in my newest project."

"I will not let you harm my students!" replied Ambrose, shooting a fast-moving dart of purple magic from the tip of his staff towards Malistaire.

"Don't be so sure of yourself, old man," sneered the black-robed man, as he blocked the spell by simply raising his hand, scattering it in multiple arcs of sibilant lightning and sending them flying all over the place, incinerating anything that was touched by them on the spot.

Two winged creatures appeared behind Malistaire, as soon as Ambrose's spell broke. They flew swiftly toward the two children, taking advantage of the fact that their master was taking care of the biggest threat.

The creatures had scaly red skin like that of a snake, and stood on two legs like humans. They brandished their sharp claws as weapons, and inhuman growls erupted from their jaws, which were, without doubt, their most prominent feature on their snake-like face.

Shard backed away instinctively, coming into contact with Emer, still unconscious, right behind him.

The creatures lunged forward with all their might, only to be repelled by a red barrier that appeared at the last second. As soon as they crashed into it, they hissed in pain and a loud sizzling sound could be heard coming out of their skin, as if their flesh were being consumed by the ward.

"Thank Bartleby the fire shield exists," commented Gamma in relief.

"A fire shield? What is happening?!" yelled Shard, not being able to understand absolutely anything that was going on.

The owl seemed to be about to reply, but then another strong explosion erupted just outside of the barrier with a loud boom, making the ground shake all around them and causing them to lose balance.

The battle outside the ward raged on. Explosions of red and black could be seen everywhere as the wizards deflected each other's spells or stopped them midair with one of their own.

Shard was feeling completely helpless as the situation evolved all around him. All he could do was stay near Emer, hoping for someone to heal her supposedly grave wounds. At the moment he would even accept brightly colored mad wizards to do the job.

Another loud boom echoed around them and the growl of an injured creature was heard soon after. The barrier started to crack around them, shattering in pieces as the creature clawed its way in with brute strength.

At this sight, Gamma panicked and started to fly around the room in strange trajectories, hooting loudly like a sort of alarm. Shard screamed in terror as the draconian managed to land just beside him, filling the air with the disgusting smell of burned corpses.

The creature prepared to strike, but an ice projectile flew right at him, blasting him away onto the other creature that was right behind it, and exploding just as the two came into contact with each other. Shard looked in the direction from which the projectile had been launched and saw Ambrose, bearing a serious look on his ancient face. His staff was raised up high as snowflakes twirled all around him and a cold wind started to blow inside the room.

"You won't risk destroying the tower, will you?" mocked Malistaire.

"If that is what it takes to stop you, I will. Threatening a new student before orientation will not be left unpunished."

"Another time, old man… I have achieved what I came here for," Malistaire told Ambrose, taking a step backwards. "And now I'll take my leave from this wretched place," he added with an angry stare. A dark cloud surrounded him like impenetrable mist and once it faded away, Malistaire was gone.

Shard looked at Ambrose, then the destroyed room, and finally to Gamma and Emer, incapable of processing what had just happened. Then, he produced a terrified squeak, once Ambrose focused his attention back on him, a leftover of all the fear that still lingered in his mind.

* * *

 ** _Fragment of a Wish_**

* * *

A cup full of chamomile tea appeared with a gentle poof on a desk stacked with papers. Shard reached for it with shaky hands, looking blankly at the enormous piles of books stacked all around the room, similar to artificial mountain ranges. He sipped the beverage without saying a word, looking down and losing himself on the blacks and whites of the chess floor.

"Are you feeling better?" asked the old man sitting opposite him.

Shard nodded slowly, putting the cup back on the table and raising his eyes to meet those of the wizard. His welcoming eyes, had azure irises which embraced everything with a warm glow. Not threatening at all, yet still, hiding great power.

"She is going to recover, right?" he asked with an imploring stare, unable think of anything but his unconscious friend.

"Of course she will. Wizard City's theurgists have treated successfully far worse injuries. You just need to be patient, and in a few days she will be as healthy as ever," Ambrose said with a reassuring smile.

After the battle with Malistaire had ended, the old man had quickly teleported all of them in front of a big building, entirely covered in ivy.

As if waiting just for them, two men dressed in green robes came out of the entrance door with a gurney to pick Emer up and take her inside, muttering something about grave mana exhaustion and fading life force, things that Shard didn't understand.

Shard managed to stand up on his own and tried to follow them, asking what were they going to do to her. The old wizard had stopped him with his hand and told him that they were theurgists and that they were going to heal her.

Shard then found himself trembling for the surge of emotions that dwelled within him. Fear and anxiety were mixed together in a dangerous match with a strong feeling of helplessness, causing him to fall back down on his knees.

Was she going to get better? Could he trust these people after what he had experienced? Why did this happen? Was all of this magic? All the questions he couldn't express until that very moment were surging forward in a messy pattern. The reality he knew had just shattered like a fragile mirror.

Never in his life did he feel emotions as intense as within the last couple of hours. He was overwhelmed by them, as if everything he had felt until now was just a faded copy of what real emotions actually were. Why was it so painful all of a sudden? Why did it feel so real?

Shard didn't even notice when Ambrose used the teleport spell once again. He just found himself in that messy room with a drink being offered to him to calm him down.

Raising his eyes, he saw the owl sitting on a perch behind the desk, looking at him with curiosity as if he was some kind of bizarre creature.

"What's your name?" Ambrose asked, looking at the boy with compassionate eyes.

"Sh-Shard" he stammered back with an empty stare, unable to say anything else.

"Shard… an unusual name isn't it?" Hooted the owl, silenced soon after by a look from the old man.

"I am Merle Ambrose, Headmaster of the Ravenwood School of Magical Arts, and the owl right there is Gamma, my familiar," he said, with a tone of voice which resembled that of an old grandfather explaining something to his grandson.

Shard stayed silent as the new information slowly sunk in _. There is a school that teaches how to become a public menace?_ he thought with disbelief.

"Where are we?" Shard finally asked, overcoming the instincts that yelled at him to keep his eyes shut, put his hands on his ears and wish all of it was just a horrible joke.

He had accepted the fact that wizards and magic existed. This wasn't a dream. He had almost died twice because of that so called 'magic' and now Emer was in a sorrowful state because of it too; he wasn't going to pretend all of it didn't happen. Magic was dangerous and couldn't be taken lightly.

"Do you come from Greyfell? I noticed you seemed to know Emer well," Headmaster Ambrose said. On its perch, Gamma leaned closer, probably curious about the answer the boy might give.

"Yes, Emer and I… we were both at the orphanage," Shard said, not even thinking about lying. The situation was just too much for him to handle.

"I understand… That must be rough for you," commented the Headmaster. "We are in Wizard City, a completely different world from the one you know. Actually, there are many other worlds which you don't know about. From what little I know about Greyfell, people there believe that their world is the only place where life can exist."

"What? We aren't even on Greyfell anymore?" Shard reached the cup again with a trembling hand, taking a large sip as finally, everything he was used to, was utterly shred into tiny little pieces.

Magic was real and he wasn't even in his own world anymore, he lost every criteria he ever had to discern reality. If it hadn't been for the calming effects of the drink he would have probably fainted by now. For his whole life, he had been taught that there were many planets in the universe, but that there was no hope of finding life on any of them.

The existence of other worlds was a completely a crazy idea. He couldn't really believe it, but at the same time he seemed to have known it for a very long time. He wondered why, but part of him felt relieved, as if it had feared staying in that other world for the rest of his existence.

"You are not. Inexplicably, you were summoned here alongside Emer," replied the old man, as if revealing something extremely significant.

"Do you mean that all of it was an accident? And… do you know Emer? Have you met before?" The boy seemed to be slowly regaining his train of thought and had just figured out that the wizard had called Emer by name multiple times throughout the conversation.

"I have never met her directly, but I sent Gamma to her with a letter a week ago, explaining everything about Ravenwood."

Gamma gently flapped his wings and added, "she was rather enthusiastic about it at first, but then she became quite thoughtful as soon as I told her that she had to leave the orphanage and transfer to a different world in order to enroll."

"So that's what she was talking about…" mumbled Shard, recalling her enigmatic allusions to a new school with dormitories. He still couldn't completely get over the fact that she didn't tell him anything about it. He thought they were friends, but maybe it was all in his head and she didn't really care about him at all.

No. Even he couldn't be that stupid. He understood her perfectly and just couldn't admit it.

She had never been fond of the orphanage in the first place. It was a rundown building, full of people who would come and go. They waited for years for someone to adopt them. Being part of a family or just being a part of something, having people that actually cared for you, It was only natural to desire something like that. He knew that if he was presented with the same opportunity, he would have taken it in a heartbeat.

The image of Emer, unconscious and sprawled on the floor, resurfaced in his memory, and alongside it, the fear he felt when he saw the black robed man.

"Who... was that man?" he found himself asking with a shattered voice.

"That man was Malistaire Drake. He was the professor of the Death school until recently; the death of his beloved Sylvia seems to have made him lose his mind completely."

Shard couldn't really believe it. That terrifying man was a professor at the magical school? What did Emer get herself involved with? The place seemed more dangerous the more he questioned it.

"Now that you know more about the situation, there is something I would like to ask you," the wizard said with a frown. "How is it you came to be summoned alongside her? Did something out of the ordinary happen?"

Shard looked at the purple robed wizard in front of him, and thought, _Are you serious? All of this is completely crazy for me!_

He then opted for a more polite answer, trying to remember anything weird that happened at the orphanage. It seemed like an eternity ago, as if he was another person back then.

"There was a black cat… I followed it and fell into a hole…" Even he thought that this explanation was quite absurd, like something one would expect from a five year old, but he seriously had no idea what was going on with that animal.

"A black cat…" mumbled the wizard, deep in thought. The room fell silent again, and nobody spoke for a few minutes.

Shard sipped the last of the drink and put the cup back on the desk. The quiet atmosphere of the office seemed to finally disperse most of the anxiety that had kept him trembling until then.

"Can I ask what you know about all of this?" the boy said, not really expecting a reply.

Ambrose adjusted his monocle and started explaining. "Greyfell is a special world. It is difficult to reach, as its connection to the Spiral is almost completely faded. There is no such thing as a Spiral Door there, making it possible to open a gateway only under very specific conditions. That is the main reason we never had any students from your world. Emer is an exception, her potential with magic is indisputably high, and it would be an insult to magic itself not to offer her a chance to enroll."

Shard paid close attention to everything the old wizard was telling him, although he didn't understand what he meant when he talked about the 'Spiral.'

The old man continued on with his explanation as if he was teaching a class. "The summoning spell that I used should have created a gateway for Emer to arrive here safely, but for some reason it became unstable and you were transported along with her."

"Does it have anything to do with the cat?" the boy questioned.

"It is possible."

Shard knew that the man wasn't telling him everything. How did he know about Emer's supposed magical potential? Why did he go through that whole ordeal just to have Emer join his school? This situation seemed too weird to be accidental.

He would have liked to know a bit more, but he wasn't sure how the man would react. He seemed trustworthy, but Shard wasn't going to risk it. Not while Emer was being healed by wizards, in a place he couldn't reach.

"What will happen to me?" he asked carefully, with a face that seemed ready to be sentenced to death.

"You have a choice," explained Ambrose. "You may either go back to Greyfell, which will take at least a week of preparation, or you may stay as a student at Ravenwood."

Shard thought about the two alternatives. There wasn't a third; he couldn't just stay there without enrolling. He wondered why. Did that mean anything at all? Was he overthinking things completely because of his traumatic experience?

The boy sighed, and looked the wizard straight in the eyes. "I will stay here," he answered.

Emer was in this crazy place full of dangerous magic. Of course, he wouldn't abandon her that easily.

* * *

 ** _Fragment of a wish_**

* * *

Dawn was still far off in time, and nobody walked on the dimly lit roads that went through The Commons.

Two figures watched a young boy with messy black hair, who was following an owl toward Ravenwood's dormitories. The roof from which they were observing their target was hidden in darkness, ensuring they couldn't be spotted.

"There he is! You were successful in the end. He calls himself Shard now, eh? Quite fitting..." said the taller of the two, with the voice of a grown man.

"Is it that obvious to you? He seems extremely normal to me, even boring," stated the smaller one, with a girly voice, as the boy entered the passage to Ravenwood and disappeared from sight.

"It's him. What you are looking at is merely a fragment. A fragment which could prove rather important," replied the man. "There is only one thing that bothers me. Why did it take so long for you to do it? And why did you do it in such a way?"

The smaller figure laughed, putting her hand to her mouth to suffocate the noise. "Greyfell reminded me of Earth, so I got the idea from a book I really liked when I was smaller. In that story, there was a girl who fell into a hole while chasing a white rabbit. It is a nice way of starting an adventure, isn't it?"

"If you say so… Yet with that method of yours, if the girl didn't have enough mana, the boy would have disappeared forever." replied the man, shifting his weigh from one foot to another.

"Oh well, I took the risk," she commented merrily.

The man suddenly looked troubled, as if sensing something amiss. "Is it here?" he asked.

"Yes it is. It is sitting on my lap right now," she replied, touching an empty space as if cuddling a pet.

"I always find it disturbing not to see that pet of yours," he confessed.

"You should be thankful for that! It means that you aren't about to die," she answered with a mischievous smile.

She gazed at the numerous buildings all around her with a satisfied look. Wizard City was a nice place. She enjoyed herself there, and now that things got extremely interesting, nothing stopped her from having the time of her life.

* * *

 ** _Did you enjoy it? Do you want to cast a stormzilla on me? Let me know!_**


	3. A Chance

**Author's notes**

 **It has been a while since my last update but it has been a busy period. As always I thank with all my heart everyone who follows, favs and reads the story. Without further ado here is the chapter, you waited long enough for it so I'll spare you long author's notes at the top.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Wizard101, only my OCs**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 3- A chance**_

* * *

Shard woke up early, or at least he thought so. He didn't have any idea of the time, since he had never been in possession of a watch in his whole life.

At the orphanage on Greyfell, almost every room had one, as they were believed to bring good luck. Recently, he had started to question those beliefs. Magic and the supernatural were completely ignored in that world, and as far as he knew, only an old fairy tale book that he had once read mentioned the concept of magic itself. On television and in books the concept didn't exist at all, as if erased from the minds of people.

Nobody had ever seemed to wonder what it would have been like if magic existed. When Shard had tried to explain the notion to his roommates, they said that it was useless to dwell on such matters, since there was no possibility of something like that being true. The next day, they had obviously forgotten everything about Shard and magic so he had tried to test how far they would have gone for their seemingly random traditions.

He had hidden the clock and waited for their reaction. Ten minutes later, he had to give up and put it back in its place to avoid causing mass hysteria. Everyone thought that something horrible would have happened to them if they didn't find the clock and put it back in time. Shard had never been able to understand their extreme reaction at all and he was creeped out by it.

It was with reluctance that Shard emerged from the red blanket that had kept him warm during the night, sitting up on the soft bed that the dormitory provided.

"What would have I done if I hadn't read that book at the orphanage?" he said, speaking to the empty room in a whisper.

"I Would have fainted on the spot or thought I was insane, that's what." He cackled miserably. Then, lowering his gaze he asked himself, "Would I have actually understood what was happening?"

He wasn't sure he hadn't actually gone insane anyway, but expressing those thoughts out loud had a soothing effect on him. He did it naturally, speaking his thoughts aloud and tying them to the reality of words.

It was a tough thing to imagine. Magic, something that felt so foreign to Greyfell that understanding it was like trying to read a book in a different language without being able to read at all. He was sure that any person on Greyfell wouldn't have been able to understand magic even if it happened right in front of them. They wouldn't comprehend what they were seeing. Making things happen by uttering enchantments and waving staffs, utter rubbish.

He had no idea how or when he managed to understand such a concept. Everything in the past was really fuzzy when he tried to think about it. He was sure that he had always lived in an orphanage, yet he could remember being transferred at some point in time, maybe once, or twice, or even three times. He couldn't say. Maybe he was too small to remember when it happened. He couldn't recall anything about the previous orphanages and neither the people he had surely met. They were there, somewhere in his memory. Too far off to be brought back and slowly fading at the back of his mind.

"I wonder if I really read that book after all," he said, unsure whether something so alien did actually belong to such a world.

He shook his head and abandoned his mental ramblings, shifting his attention to the present.

The room looked way better during the day than it had looked the night before. It was octagonal in shape, delimited by a rather old but surprisingly solid stone wall, which made him think of an old castle. Near the bed on which he was sitting, there was a little bedside table while, on the opposite side of the room, there was only a large desk and a small chair, making the place feel barren and lonely.

The walls themselves were full of small creaks and holes, and if it hadn't been for two large windows opposite to the entrance door, they would have looked like a vertical wasteland.

When Gamma brought him there the night before, the place was illuminated by a bunch of torches emitting a soft purplish light. When he woke up, they were all extinguished, even though he remembered falling asleep without putting them out. He was scared by the weirdly colored light they gave off, perhaps they were magical too.

The simple doubt was enough of a reason to leave them be. He wasn't sure that he could touch them without risking an explosion. Shard saw no reason to check on them more closely either, since the room was illuminated by the light coming from the two windows.

 _Not risking it_ , he thought.

Slowly, Shard put his feet on the wooden floor, which creaked under his weight, and walked to the nearest window. There was a nice view outside. A crystal-clear lake could be spotted in the distance, surrounded by many houses with pitched roofs. Every roof had tiles of a completely different color than the ones beside them, creating a joyful atmosphere.

Shard didn't stop to gaze at them. His eyes searched the surroundings impatiently until he found what he was looking for; an ivy-covered building with a green roof.

He had asked the headmaster to stay at the infirmary for the night, hoping to see Emer again. He wanted to be there when she woke up, or at the very least keep watch for crazy wizards that could harm her with weird spells. Ambrose had told him to sleep in the dormitories instead, in order to avoid getting in the way of the theurgists, which from what he had come to understand, were the equivalent of magical doctors. In the end, Shard had reluctantly agreed to sleep in the dormitories, but only when Ambrose had assured him that he could visit Emer the next morning.

Shard moved towards the desk and spotted a piece of paper on it. Picking it up and inspecting it more closely, he found out that it was a brochure. It described the different subjects which were taught at Ravenwood and other important information on how the school worked. He ignored most of the information presented on it, stuffing it in his pocket on a whim once he spotted a small map of the place on the back of it.

Afterwards, he checked out everything in the room, trying to find out anything that could help him out in any way. After a few minutes, he concluded that there wasn't anything useful, although in the process he discovered that there was another door other than the entrance one, leading to a bathroom. He was absolutely sure that it had appeared only when he started to examine the walls closely.

He washed his face thoroughly, repeating for the hundredth time in his mind that this wasn't all a dream and that he was very much awake. After that, he decided to step out of the safety of the small room.

An empty corridor stretched to both sides, full of similar looking doors. The only distinguishing feature among them were nothing more than small, golden door plaques, on which were engraved different numbers. Shard turned around and closed the door to his room, memorizing the 372 engraved on it.

He still couldn't believe how the dormitories could contain so many rooms. From the outside, it looked like a single big tower, but on the inside, it was extremely stretched horizontally. The whole place looked like it was under a spell to make the insides more spacious.

Shard walked through the hallway carefully. The wood creaked as he passed countless doors and moved to a modest-looking staircase. He descended quickly to the ground floor, opened a wooden door devoid of a plaque, and walked outside into the new world.

It didn't look dangerous. There was a very spacious plaza in front of the dormitories and six different symbols were engraved on the floor around a huge drawing of a spiral. An enormous tree was planted right in front of the plaza, covering the sky above with leafy branches. The tree itself was bordered by a road on either side which led to some buildings in the distance.

Examining the buildings to his right, Shard thought that they looked rather weird together, with one drenched in endless rain and the other covered in snow. Wizards seemed to have gone overboard with their decoration, going as far as changing the climate to accommodate whatever crazy architectural designs they had in mind.

Shaking his head, Shard decided not to investigate any further, since he had more than enough problems to worry about for the time being. He took out the brochure, consulted the small map on the back for a minute, and walked down the tunnel he had come through the night before with Gamma, heading to the place labeled as 'The Commons.'

Magic had to be left alone. Just the thought of what it could do in the wrong hands sent shivers down his spine. The vivid image of that black-robed man, his mocking smile, and his empty eyes resurfaced in his memory with each and every step he took in that magical world.

He started to walk faster, as he needed to get to Emer quickly if he wanted to leave soon. What he had said to the old man the night before had been a lie. How could he practice magic? How in the world could he let his only friend practice it, after witnessing firsthand what it could do? He wasn't going to run away alone, he was going to take her out of that madness too.

Shard navigated the Commons easily, and ten minutes later he was in front of the infirmary. He timidly opened the door, and a huge waiting room entered his field of vision. Many people were sitting on wooden chairs set against immaculate walls, and even more walked on the dazzling white marble floor, heading in all different directions and disappearing into the various corridors that departed from the sides of the hall. The place was full of a relaxing smell, similar to that of a flowery meadow.

Shard had no idea how to get to Emer, so he walked straight to the reception desk in order to ask where he could find her, although he wasn't sure if they would let him pass.

At the sight of the receptionist, Shard was taken aback. She was pretty small for working in a hospital, and pretty inhuman too.

Her size was that of a doll, her hair was combed in a chignon, and she wore a dress made of brown leaves matching the two bug-like wings that departed from her back, making a buzzing noise as they rapidly fluttered to keep her mid-air. The creature had her glistening brown eyes locked on a very small book, kept open by her tiny hands right under her nose. She was muttering to herself with overflowing emotion, hardly suppressing her giggles.

The boy would have preferred to speak to someone human. He had absolutely no idea on how to address the creature and the wild idea of bowing or showing respect in weird ways briefly crossed his mind. Could she curse him with some powerful magic if he did the wrong thing?

Mustering all of his courage, he said, "Good morning!"

It came out louder than he had expected, and the creature looked startled. She dropped the book on the floor and without looking at him, she started a continuous flood of apologies. "Sorrysorrysorrysorry! I didn't mean to get distracted but I had to know if Morgan would finally kiss Elisabeth! SorrysorryIamsosorry!"

Shard made a step back. The sprite had put her hands on her eyes in order to cover her tears, while she flitted all around like a crazy fly. Shard was unable to say anything to calm her down, failing miserably to grasp the situation. Many people around the hall turned around to investigate the source of the noise, but most of them just looked the other way, shaking their heads, or continued watching in amusement.

She eventually calmed down by herself and looked at Shard quizzically. "Who are you? How did you manage to appear as silently as her? You aren't Marianne!"

Shard stood there dumbfounded, unsure of how to react as the sprite puffed her cheeks in annoyance and pointed her accusing finger towards him. She seemed to be expecting a reply, because, after a few seconds of silence, she shook her head.

"Did I go through this act for nothing?! Leave me be... child. I have to know how the story ends!" she said, with exaggerated gestures of intolerance, as if she was acting on stage. "Where did it fall?" she mumbled after seemingly concluding that Shard wasn't a menace to her anymore, plunging to the floor and desperately looking for her book.

"Good morning, Daisy! Are you looking for this?" A tall woman dressed in a bright green robe had appeared out of nowhere beside the shocked boy. Her bright red lips were tensed as in an attempt to keep control, and her nostrils were dilated in unspoken anger as her breath came out slow and threatening, as if she was going to erupt fire. She was waving the small book in front of the creature with a dangerously dissatisfied look in her brown eyes.

"Yes, yes, thank you! You've saved my life! And… now you'll probably kill me, right?" said the sprite, enthusiastic upon first seeing the book, and trembling in fear after noticing who was holding it.

"Oh, no. I'll do worse! You are going to work here overtime tonight, for your despicable conduct!" thundered the lady with an authoritarian attitude.

Daisy fell to her knees on the desk and begged for mercy. "Please kill me, Marianne! I don't want to do this boring work for the rest of my life!"

Marianne mercilessly replied, "Don't make such a fuss about it. You should have thought of that before animating that statue in unicorn way."

The sprite puffed her cheeks in anger and shrieked back, "As I have already told you and the Lady, I just wanted to sensitize everyone to the beauty of unicorns! And my plan was a complete success! Even you have to admit that everyone admired it and screamed in joy, as it galloped down the road!"

Marianne replied coldly, "Those screams were from the injuries and life-long traumas that your devastation has caused!"

The sprite seemed struck down by the statement, but Shard could swear to have heard her mutter under her breath, "It was worth it… Unicorns rule!"

"Well, you'll stay here tomorrow night, and all the nights after, too. That is until you understand what you have done. I can't let you spend your time on your destructive hobbies, and don't get me started on your cringy obsession over unicorns," concluded the woman, who seemed to have developed a fine sense of hearing.

Daisy shrieked in anger, but obeyed the orders of her superior. She turned around and walked straight towards a voluminous, black notebook, way bigger than herself. Taking out a very small quill, she started to write names, notes, and numbers on it, in what looked like to be some sort of management duty. At least, that was what it would have seemed if the sprite hadn't been writing all of it with exaggerated movements of her hand and an evil smirk printed on her face as if any person who was written down was bound to die. Every so often she would pause to mumble something in irritation, making it look like she was speaking to invisible people inside her head.

Marianne shook her head and started to walk away, not before having scolded Daisy once more for the little respect she demonstrated for her working materials, reminding her that she was recording info about patients, not stabbing them to death.

"Excuse me, I need your help!" exclaimed Shard, hoping with all his heart that the lady wouldn't sentence him to work there too just for asking a question.

"Oh, and where did you come from?" she asked in surprise, noticing Shard for the first time. Shard didn't bother to answer the question, since he was quite used to people not noticing him even when he stood right in front of them.

"I came here to visit a friend of mine. Her name is Emer."

Daisy answered merrily, as if she was remembering a particularly interesting show "Oh! Isn't she the one who almost had her soul separated from her body?"

"What do you mean by that?" asked Shard in panic.

Marianne sent an imposing glare in direction of her subordinate, and then shifted her attention once again towards Shard. "What's your name?"

"Shard… but what did she mean with...?"

Marianne turned towards Daisy and asked authoritatively, "Daisy! Is Shard on the list for visits to Emer?"

Daisy obediently turned the pages of her notebook, until she found what she had been asked about. "Yes, he is!"

Marianne seemed to be in deep thought and then looked at Shard who stared at her with a terror.

"I suppose you want to know what happened to her. We would like to have clarifications from Ambrose too, since he didn't tell us anything about the incident," she said, as if blaming Shard himself for it.

She then seemed to decide what to say and added in a whisper, as to not be heard from the other people in the hall, "I can tell you what the consequences of the incident were. She was brought here in critical condition, and at first, we thought that she had consumed all her mana…"

"I hate those reckless wizards, they summon a spell that exceeds their capacities and end up unconscious or dead. They should be more careful! I'm overworked without them adding extras," Daisy interrupted loudly, enjoying every bit of annoyance written on Marianne's face.

Marianne glanced at her angrily, and went on with her explanation, "Upon further inspection, we realized that she wasn't regaining her mana, and that the real problem lied elsewhere. The child seems to have sustained damage to her soul itself. I have no idea how things would have turned out if Professor Wu hadn't been here to help out yesterday night."

Shard didn't understand most of that nonsense, and asked, "…But she is okay now, right?"

Marianne stopped with her explanation, and, as if remembering the age of her interlocutor and how traumatized he must have been, she softened up into a reassuring smile. "Yes, she will recover completely in a few days, don't worry. To find her room go to the third floor, it is the first room to the right"

The boy thanked the strange pair and found his way to Emer's room as fast as he could without looking back.

The door creaked open as he pushed it with impatience. Light shone into the room from an open window. A gentle breeze came in, and the white curtains at the side of the window danced slowly alongside it. There was a single bed and Emer was lying on it, resting her weight on a pile of pillows behind her.

Shard walked in silence towards her and she turned to look back at him, with a deadly serious look in her green eyes.

"I am sorry," were her first words, pronounced in a dead voice. Shard stopped in his tracks, he had never seen Emer like that before.

"I… am sorry…" she repeated, lowering her gaze. "I really wanted to tell you about where I was going, but then… I was afraid of hurting you. Why couldn't you come here too? You could see those things too, right? You must have been able to come, too…"

Shard shook his head and told her, "Here? In this crazy place? I don't want to stay, magic is dangerous… we should think about a way to escape."

Emer smiled weakly. "That is so much like you… Always ready to give up on a new adventure, right?"

"What are you talking about? Do you even know how crazy all of this is? A wizard tried to kill us both while you were unconscious!"

"I know about it. The headmaster filled me in after I woke up. As I see it, this is a great opportunity for us."

"You can't be serious" Shard muttered, taking a step back.

"I am serious. Greyfell isn't my home. There were huge forests there, and lakes, and magic! I am even able to remember what it feels like to have a family if I try hard enough! Magic isn't something that you should be afraid of," she confessed, raising her voice as memories took hold of her mind and her eyes started to become watery.

Shard was speechless. She had been suffering the whole time on Greyfell. He had noticed a few times before, at the orphanage, but had no idea what to do to help her. She wanted to go somewhere else and be accepted. Even if he would have managed to understand, he wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.

It had finally gotten through to him; Emer remembered her family. It must have been harder for her to lose everything. He would have shattered to pieces if he had been in her shoes. She was special indeed, she managed to stay optimistic against all odds.

His will of bringing her back to Greyfell crumbled to dust. He wouldn't take this opportunity away from her. She was able to survive in this world filled with magic, he was sure of it.

"If you truly think that this is the right thing to do, I won't stop you. I don't belong here, though," Shard replied, his voice shattering at the realization that he would be going back alone.

Emer shook her head and said, "You belong here as much as I do. No, even more than me."

"Why?" he asked, with his mind fighting with his heart on whether to stay or to leave.

Emer clutched the blanket and explained "I don't really deserve it. I am a horrible person…"

"Yeah right, and I like horror movies very much," Shard said, rolling his eyes.

"No, you don't understand... I was prepared to come here alone. I thought that, maybe, I could tell the headmaster all about you, and convince him to bring you here too. I couldn't tell you I was leaving Greyfell because if I failed, you would be upset. I lied to you since that owl came to tell me all about Ravenwood. I would have left you alone in that world... people might have started to forget you all over again!"

The girl started to tremble, but went on. "I wanted to chase my memories, leaving you behind. Now I understand. I won't let my selfishness get in the way anymore. We don't have anything back on Greyfell, we can start anew here. There is hope here… And we made a promise, right?"

Shard listened dumbfounded to his friend, who was adamant about starting a new life in this dangerous world. A life he didn't want, but that seemed better than what they left behind. Why was he so scared of magic? The more he thought about it, the less he understood.

It had been used with evil intent by that black-robed wizard, yet Emer defended it strenuously. What did she remember? What kind of magic did she see back where she came from? He had no idea. There were only two things that he knew for sure; Emer's judgment was better than his own, and they had made a promise.

The boy sighed, his will to argue back completely extinguished. "You know, You can't be considered selfish even if you try hard to put it in that way. I don't trust magic one bit, but I trust you. I'll give this place a chance."

He remembered the promise. They made it the very first day in which they had met each other. She had bumped into him while he was looking at a weird sphere floating just outside of the orphanage. When he discovered that she was able to see it too, they instantly formed a bond. That day, they promised each other to find out what those things were, and why they were the only ones able to see them. They had talked about them for days, without being able to solve the mystery.

"Don't worry. Even if we aren't able to solve it today, there will always be tomorrow," she had said with a mischievous smirk, offering her hand to him. He would have given up that day, accepting the fact that he wouldn't have been able to understand the things that kept him from fitting in.

"We'll stick together until then," she had said encouragingly. That was the first time that Shard had felt truly happy. It was the first time he had felt he was part of something.

The situation was weird, he was scared of magic in a place that was overflowing with it, but as he listened to Emer's worries about him not being able to come with her, he started to look at the whole ordeal from a different perspective.

This place held the answers to their questions. Yes, it worked on a completely different logic than Greyfell, but it was a whole new world so that should have been understandable. He had been too quick to judge. They could start a new life. He felt that with Emer things would be alright since she always managed to make the best out of every misfortune.

"We'll stick together until we'll discover the answer," he said with a weak smile.

"But we'll be friends long after that, you know?" she added with a smile, recovering her usual self and offering her hand once again.

Shard took it, as he had done the last time. His trust in her words was stronger than his fear of magic. If she said that he could eventually fit in, it was probably true. He would definitely give that world a chance.

* * *

 **Aaaand the story will continue next time. I hope you are enjoying it so far, we are still in the very beginning and there are so many things that will happen eventually, so don't worry if it seems slow at first.**

 **I know that you won't believe me, but the legend says that if you inspect the wall of the dormitory very closely you'll eventually find a bathroom! What?! You are sure that is not the case? D: Did you stare at it for an hour with nothing happening? Yeah I was joking don't worry. I wanted it there on a whim, wizards still need to use it don't they?**

 **I also felt the necessity of having an infirmary, since I'm sure the life school would have been extremely crowded if it was the only place to get healed.**

 **I warn you that I'll randomly add new places other than the cannon ones for technical, important or stupid reasons, so please bear with me also in these instances.**

 **Other than that I am really happy of writing it: Wizard City has many mysteries yet to uncover, and there are many questions lingering around Shard and Emer. Everything will be answered in the end, even if it will take a while I'll keep on writing the story.**

 **If you want, tell me what you think so far, I would be happy to read your feedback while working on the next chapter.**


	4. Family Ties

**Author's notes:**

 **I'm back! Sorry for taking this much time, but well I have finally finished the chapter. I have also used the time to fix up a bit chapter 1 and plan the direction this story will take, so well, taking some time was worth it in the end. As always constructive criticism is extremely appreciated, and I am grateful to the people that followed, favorited, reviewed or even just read my story, it truly means a lot to me. Huge thanks to Jones for beta-reading too.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 4 – Family Ties**_

* * *

A few days had passed since Shard's first visit to the infirmary, and he had continued to visit Emer every morning to check on how she was doing. Emer was getting better day after day, and even though she wasn't quite finished recovering yet, she was able to walk around the infirmary by herself without too much effort, something which Marianne, the head-theurgist, seemed quite pleased about. Of course, she never said it openly herself, masking her relieved smiles under words of caution and lectures.

"Moving my body feels like moving a puppet with half its strings cut off. Should I open a puppet show in town?" Emer had giggled, once she had started to walk again.

"No way!" Shard had answered, disturbed by the weird comparison.

Shard still had no idea how Emer had been injured. Recalling what he had felt when he was summoned, he remembered the pain that had travelled through his body and the darkness that pressed onto his lungs. Alone, in that place between worlds, he did really think he was going to die. After he had arrived to the other side though, he had recovered without any problem whatsoever.

According to Marianne, Emer had the same symptoms as those who had exhausted their mana. Shard wasn't sure what mana was, nor its importance, but everyone talked about it almost as if they were talking about oxygen.

He was well aware that he should have tried harder to bring himself to read something about magic and Wizard City. The headmaster, the day after the summoning incident, had given him advice on some books that would help him ease the culture shock. Shard had tried to read them many times, but he just couldn't bring himself to. Inside those tomes, there was information regarding magic and there was no turning back after reading them.

Those few times that curiosity actually threatened to take over, Shard had managed to go as far as opening the books, but once he did, an unpleasant shiver had run down his spine, followed by a mixed feeling of disgust and familiarity bubbling in his chest.

 _What's so bad about it?_ He kept asking himself.

Sometimes, he would recall that man, Malistaire. The black-robed wizard haunted his dreams, making him wake up in the middle of the night screaming in fear. He couldn't believe that the man had affected him so greatly as to enter his dreams. In truth, he was sure that the man had little to do with his fears. The things he could see on Greyfell, things he was sure possessed a magical nature, had always frightened him.

From what he had figured out by observing those things, they didn't have a definite shape, could appear and disappear in mere instants, and scared him to death. None of them had ever done anything to harm him, though. They took on random forms, floated or walked around, and went about their business. Emer had always been mesmerized by them, and would stop whatever she was doing to look. She described them as melancholic and echoing from far away, nothing more than memories.

Neither Shard nor Emer had seen them since they had set foot in Wizard City. There was no trace of them in The Commons , nor around campus. Not even by paying close attention to his surroundings, could Shard spot anything similar to them on his way to the Shopping District to buy school supplies.

After sending a quick glance around the place, Shard closed the door of the clothing store behind him, bringing along a backpack containing his newly-bought clothes, and moved swiftly through the street.

The Shopping District was a very spacious road that connected the Commons to Olde Town, and as the name implied, it was full of different kinds of shops, advertising their products through their large windows.

Many people were walking around. Most wore simple shirts, leather pants and boots, but others stood out more in brightly colored robes. Some of them were walking around leisurely, while others were completely focused on their objectives, going straight from one shop to another, carrying heavy bags full of merchandise.

Shard noticed many families stopping in their tracks, consulting lists much like the one he kept in his bag and pointing at various shops. He suspected that most of them were wizards, buying materials needed for a new year at Ravenwood.

As he moved along, passing an overjoyed boy who waved a wand enthusiastically under his parents' prideful smiles, Shard started to wonder about his own family. He had no idea who his parents were; he had been at the orphanage his whole life. The same could be said for Emer, but she had recently confessed that she remembered something about her life in another world. Was her family magical? Was Emer's destiny already written? And what about him, why was he dragged along in all of this madness?

Shard shook his head and walked onwards. For the time being, he had to give a chance to this world. He had promised it to his only friend.

He took out his list and read it again, checking what was left to buy. Gamma had given him the list earlier that day, telling him to get all the necessary things for school without giving much of an explanation. Apparently, there was a financial aid for people who couldn't pay for the basic materials, so Shard found his pockets weighed down by a bunch of gold coins.

At first, he didn't really understand why he was given money to spend freely and not the items themselves. He had asked Emer, and she told him that it was a way of testing responsibility in the young generations of wizards, and that if it weren't for her difficulty in walking long distances, she would have been sent to do the same thing. Shard wondered what kind of school could afford to spend so much money on new students. Students who might not even become wizards to begin with, or actually spend the money on work material. It didn't make any sense from his point of view.

He consulted the list once more. The only things he had bought were some clothes for himself and a funny-looking alarm-clock, which he needed to get up on time. The clock was in the shape of a tower and could be set to ring at any time with a voice command. He wasn't too thrilled about it, but he had no other way to avoid his habit of oversleeping during the mornings. When he bought it, the shopkeeper had rambled on and on about how much it resembled an important Marleybonian building. Shard had no idea what he was talking about, so he had kept nodding with a stretched smile on his face the whole time, hoping that the man would let him go.

He still needed to get some books and something to take notes with, which in this world would be ink and quill, so he asked for directions to the nearest bookstore.

As he entered the shop, the scent of the many tomes kept there pleasantly tickled his nostrils, and he stopped for a second to take in the surroundings. The inside was extremely small with books occupying most of the space. The shelves were crammed one against another, and some looked like they were on the brink of falling over.

Shard walked uncertainly towards the counter, squeezing through the narrow path between two bookcases. A bald, middle-aged man with a tired expression and dark circles under his eyes was talking to a purple-robed boy.

"…Introduction to Mana for Beginners by Evelyn Softglow and History of the Spiral by Gaius Wordsmith. I'll check them out, wait a few minutes." He then went through a small door behind the counter, disappearing from sight.

Shard would have liked to stop him, since the books the boy had ordered were also on his list, but he was still trying to squeeze his way to the counter, where there was some space for free movement. Once he got free, he decided to wait right near the boy.

"Are you starting at Ravenwood this year too?" asked the boy, suddenly noticing him.

The boy wore a purple robe and a matching pointed hat triumphantly placed on his head so as to cover his unusually white curly hair, which peeped out from under it anyway.

Shard was taken aback by the sudden question, since it was very rare that people noticed him if he didn't try to make contact with them himself. He got himself together and managed a nod, looking back at the boy, without being able to hide his anxiety.

He didn't like what he saw. A pair of arrogant brown eyes were mercilessly scrutinizing him, locking him down with a mocking stare. He had never seen a similar intent in anyone's eyes before. His blood instantly ran cold. He didn't like it at all.

"So, from which world do you come from?" asked the boy, in a seemingly innocent manner.

Shard bit his lip in nervousness. He knew that the boy had deduced that he wasn't from Wizard City by his clothes. His depressing worn out grey shirt stood out too much in this world, especially in comparison to the seemingly brand new robe the other boy was wearing.

"Greyfell. You've probably never heard of it," Shard answered carefully.

"Yeah, never heard of it," commented the boy, resuming the interrogation with another question. "Have you decided which kind of magic you'll study?"

"I… um… not yet." Shard had no idea of what was the boy talking about. Wasn't it enough to study magic? There were actually different kinds of it? Shard's brain went numb, as he scolded himself for his incapacity to open even a single book on the subject.

"Come on! If you tried to enroll at Ravenwood you should have a clear idea. Is there at least one kind of magic that feels right to you?"

"Eh…"

"Well, I want to be Storm. I already got a Whole bunch of books on the subject and all of my family is Storm anyways," he said proudly, as if he had been waiting to since the beginning of the conversation.

"That's nice," said Shard, hoping with all his heart that the conversation would shift away from magic, or even better, end as fast as possible. The purple robed boy didn't even tell his name. What was he trying to achieve?

"Yeah, nice indeed. Storm is the strongest school. You might be able to make it into Ice... " he seemed to think about it for a few seconds and added "Oh, but their motto is to be resolved in your decisions, so you might not fit in there... hmm..."

Shard couldn't say that the boy was wrong ;he didn't even want to study magic in the first place, and resolve was something that he lacked. That didn't make him feel less hurt by the boy's words, though.

"Wow, that is exactly what a Storm student would say. You might actually become one after all," said a voice behind them.

Shard turned to look at the newcomer, who was trying to squeeze through the bookcases to get to them.

He wore a white shirt and tattered brown trousers, matched with a pair of leather shoes. His hair was bright red, as were his eyes.

"Oh, Fireblade! So you _did_ pass the entrance test in the end. I thought you never would be able to make it," exclaimed the purple-robed boy with a smirk.

"I am surprised too! Who would have thought that you found the time to study, as busy as you are bragging about how your family is the only thing that keeps the world from being destroyed," the now dubbed Fireblade replied, arriving at the counter and confronting the boy directly.

"You and everyone in this city should be thankful, actually; at least _we_ don't go around incinerating stuff in other worlds for fame and glory. There are many things to be done in Wizard City. Oh, but what do you know of it? Fireblades are nothing more than over-glorified refugees."

"What did you say?! We had always had the best battle wizards."

"True, but without battles there is not much you do to help. In my opinion, the current school system has to be revised. Teaching anyone who has potential to do magic is irresponsible. Those that come here need to be well aware of what learning magic truly means. Otherwise we end up with people like you who learn it for selfish reasons, and worthless trash like this guy here," he pointed at Shard before adding, "Who probably passed the test without even wanting to be a wizard in the first place. He won't last long in school. Even students do important tasks and indecisiveness can be fatal."

Shard felt as if he had been punched in the face. He knew that he had never been the brightest or the strongest, or even the fastest. Was he trash though? As he thought about it, he was constantly forgotten. That made him no better than trash. People acknowledged trash.

They were also talking about a test. He didn't have to do any test to enter at Ravenwood. Was he occupying a spot that could have been for another child, whose dream had always been studying magic? It felt unfair.

"Shut up!" shouted Fireblade, as he charged the other boy and pushed him into the bookcase, making a bunch of books fall to the ground. Stormheart had just the time to widen his eyes in surprise as he was tackled by the red head, his next words choking in his throat as he tried to stabilize himself and avoid falling to the floor.

"No fighting in my shop!" said the shop owner, as he emerged from the open door behind the counter, carrying a pile of books and a tired expression on his face.

Fireblade backed away, eyeing the boy in anger.

"Here are your books, Mister Stormheart, now please leave so I can take care of the other customers," said the shopkeeper in his unshaken, monotone voice.

"Fine, I have proven my point anyway. One would rather resort to violence than talk back, and the other just wouldn't speak up for himself, not even when insulted," hissed Stormheart. He paid with some gold coins, threw the books inside his bag, and made his way out of the shop without saying anything else.

"First year at Ravenwood for both of you too, I suppose," said the man, walking inside the book deposit once more, muttering something on the need of finding a better place for school books.

Fireblade fidgeted for a few seconds in the silent room, then he turned towards Shard and said, "I'm sorry that you had to put up with that windbag. I'm Kane Fireblade, and you are?"

Shard analyzed Kane closely before giving an answer. He had witnessed him losing his temper a few seconds before, and wasn't willing to be the next target of a sudden rage attack. He quickly dismissed the idea. There was no trace of malice in Kane Fireblade's red eyes, only an apparent restlessness.

"My name's Shard, nice to meet you."

"Shard. That is quite the weird name. And what's your surname?" Kane said, his red eyes brimming with genuine curiosity.

"Eh… I don't have one."

"Really? And why is that?"

"I guess it wasn't all that important back on my homeworld," Shard answered after a short reflection. He remembered asking multiple times about his surname, but since nobody seemed to remember him for more than twenty-four hours, he was never able to get a proper one _._

 _Like trash,_ he thought.

"You'll make your own then. After you become a full-fledged wizard, that is," Kane said encouragingly.

"Make my own?"

"Oh right, you don't know that, do you? Wizards actually get to choose a new surname or keep the family one. Surnames are very important, and often show what you like or something you have achieved. Oh, often wizards like to reference their school in them. The surnames are treated almost like titles by others."

Shard imagined how it would have been to have a surname which boasted his achievements to the world. He found it to be an extremely egocentric tradition, but thinking about it, he couldn't avoid a warm feeling creeping in his stomach. Having a surname and bragging about what his ancestors had achieved or what he had achieved felt surprisingly reassuring. It would have been the proof of his existence.

He shifted his weight uncomfortably, and then, he carefully dared to ask, "So, what is the story behind your surname?"

"It comes from my great grandfather. He was a legendary pyromancer who used to fight with a sword. My father told me that he had managed to defeat a dragon in battle and steal its flame. Isn't that cool?" Kane instantly replied, as if waiting for the right moment to tell him that information. In that regard, he wasn't that different from the purple-robed boy.

"Um…" Shard wasn't sure if fighting a dragon would have been cool. He would have thought of it as a terrifying experience.

Some time passed by in awkward silence, then he asked "The other guy's surname was Stormheart, right? Does he have a peculiar heart or something?"

"Pft, no way! Alex is just a spoiled brat, the name probably comes from that particular family's pride in being all Storm wizards."

"That sure explains some things," commented Shard, thinking back on Alex's attitude towards Storm Magic.

The shop owner came back soon after with their books, telling them the price and waving his hand in an annoyed way to shoo them off once he was done with them.

Shard was about to open the door to leave the shop, followed closely by Kane, when his eyes widened in realization. "I almost forgot. Do you sell ink and quills by any chance?"

"I don't sell them, but you can try at Eudora's shop in Olde Town," answered the man.

Shard had never been to Olde Town, and only read the name on the small map on that brochure. He hoped that it wasn't too far, since he wanted to buy everything as soon as possible.

"I can take you there if you want," Kane said.

"That would be really nice of you," Shard replied.

"Is there anything else you need to buy?"

"I still need a wand," he recalled, feeling uneasy at the thought of holding such a thing in his hands.

"It's settled then, we'll go together. I can't wait to disintegrate stuff once I get my wand!" exclaimed Kane enthusiastically.

"Wait what?!" asked Shard in a panic.

"Let's go!" Kane said, dragging Shard out of the shop with a smile that stretched from one ear to the other.

* * *

 _ **Fragment of a Wish**_

* * *

Alex Stormheart, fuming with anger, marched down Triton Avenue, carrying with him a rather full bag. Passing by the statue of a triton, he looked up to it and sighed. Taking some deep breaths, he attempted to calm himself down. Losing his temper over the argument he just had had with the other kids wasn't something he was extremely proud of.

Thinking about it more closely, he didn't say anything wrong at all. Why then, did the discussion just devolve into a fight? Couldn't Kane Fireblade use arguments of his own against him? Did he really have to resort to pushing him against a Bookcase?!

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. He had to remind himself that kids his age were quite childish, sometimes, even unable to hold a conversation about important matters. It was just the way it was. He, Alex Stormheart, should keep it in mind, lest he became the immature one. Everyone regarded him as being highly intelligent and mature for his young age, and well, he believed so too, there was no point at all to try and talk some sense into the other children.

Leaving the Statue behind, he kept walking, paying attention not to soak his shoes by accidentally stepping into the gutter beside the sidewalk. His house wasn't that far into the street, towering above others and showing loud and clear how wealthy the Stormhearts were. His destination, though, wasn't his house and he kept walking, heading towards the river that passed right in the middle of the street.

Maybe he might have chosen the wrong words after all, but it didn't change the fact that what he said was absolutely right. Fireblades weren't native to Wizard City, and despite being extremely powerful Pyromancers, they really didn't act in the city's best interest. Regardless of it, people still treated them like heroes.

"It was that boy who made me say those things…" Alex muttered. He didn't like him; that boy had entered the shop, scared and insecure. Alex couldn't believe that someone like that had had the courage to take the exam to enroll at Ravenwood, let alone actually passing it. After a couple of questions, it had been clear to Alex, that the boy would have wanted to be anywhere but at Ravenwood.

That stupid exam had been on Alex's mind ever since he took it, be it for one reason or another. It wasn't the best way to get new students into the school. Sure, more people actually had the opportunity to enroll, but this resulted in a lack of overall quality.

In short, if there was someone loyal to the city, but not good enough at remembering historical events, failure was assured, opening up the position as a guard, while, if you just happened to have a good memory but wanted to just learn enough magic to dry your laundry, it was very possible to pass.

Not to mention that Alex suspected that it could be easily rigged, and this year, they had surely been. If that were the case, even Ambrose himself needed to bend the rules from time to time, which meant that the system was flawed and in dire need of revision.

His parents told him that there was a time when the entrance exam wasn't written, taken directly in front of the headmaster himself. People back then were eager to give their life for Ravenwood. It was certainly a harder test, with few people actually passing, but those few who did, were mostly assured to get to the rank of Master.

With the Fireblades entering the scene, though, the city council had convinced Ambrose to split it into a mere written exam and a practical one, open for anyone to sit. That was to have the city open up to the rest of the Spiral and share its knowledge.

It irked Alex a great deal. Most of the wizards that attended the school, were just there to learn enough magic to make a living in their own world. Few actually decided to stay in Wizard City and do what was expected from the wizards of old; protect Bartleby.

The current head of the Fireblade family was to blame for it. His ideas in the city council often revolved around helping the people of the Spiral, sharing their magic with them, and all in all, turning Wizard City into the go-to place when any problem came up.

Those days, people were convinced that they could shamelessly employ a passerby wizard to do their bidding for free. It was all done to better the image of wizards, of course, after Dragonspyre so readily dragged it in the mud with their stupid thirst for conquest. Going as far as lending help indiscriminately to other worlds, though, hurt Wizard City's reputation, turning wizards into mere tools for people to use for their own liking.

It was for all these reasons, that Alex snapped, calling the boy trash and attempting to at least get the spark of a reaction from him. Something that could prove him that the Professors weren't wasting their time with him. His lack of resolve and silence, though, just proved to Alex that the boy, wasn't worth the effort. Nothing good could ever come out of him and if he ever learned magic, he would have used it for little things, irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Descending a flight of stairs leading down to the river, Alex turned left and arrived at his destination. In front of him, stood a two-story house, painted in shades of purple, blending in with the street's surroundings. A mere façade of normality as the man who lived in there was anything but normal.

The boy didn't even bother to knock on the door and opened it, fully aware that no answer would have come if he did knock. A rather weird-looking entrance hall welcomed him into the building. On one side, the walls were tinted purple, with drawings of rain-heavy clouds, whereas, on the other, Aquilan colonnades separated portraits of ancient wars.

The furniture followed the same themes with sturdy stone chairs and tables, contrasting with practical, and way more modern shelves, glass-cases, and armchairs. Adding to the randomness of the room, any piece of furniture that seemed to belong to one side, was placed on the other, probably just to annoy visitors. Alex never really liked the room, it gave him an eyesore.

"Uncle, where are you?" Alex called out to the empty-looking house.

Having received no response at all, he decided to look for him himself. Making his way down a dimly-lit corridor, he stopped at the studio's door. Alex knocked and waited. Still no response.

Just to make sure, he looked inside. A single desk was stacked with papers and books about a wide range of subjects. Behind the desk, a blackboard showed a maze of complex calculations, and to its sides, there were ancient tablets, depicting writings in long lost languages. The remaining space on the wall was entirely covered in memos. Strings departed from them, each in different colours, traveling all across the room in not well-defined web patterns.

Paying attention not to step on a pile of dirty dishes and a half-empty cup of coffee laying about on the floor, Alex approached the desk. A rather small human-shaped figurine, made entirely of clay, was caught between the pages of an open book. It moved its arms and legs aimlessly, attempting to get the heavy weight off of itself.

Golem Prototype 024, a revolutionary invention in its own time.

"Is uncle using you as a bookmark again?" Alex sighed, flapping the tome open and freeing the miniature golem. "Did he get another one of his eureka moments?"

The golem shrugged, kicked the tome, and crossed his arms over his chest, in a rather credible imitation of anger. Looking at it, Alex couldn't stop himself from laughing. The little guy might have been small, but its tantrums were of epic proportions.

"Just tell me where he is."

The golem nodded, turned around, and pointed to the blackboard on the wall. Judging by how there was a red circle around the final result of the calculations, his uncle was done with theoretical work. This meant only one thing; he was testing stuff out in the basement.

Closing the door to the studio behind himself, Alex found his way to the basement. A big aquarium occupied the centre of the room, reproducing the perfect habitat for the chameleon fish who lazily swam inside. Diagrams and memos filled the basement walls too, though these were much more organized for quick access.

A brightly colored tent, probably coming from the Fairegrounds, was folded in a corner, gathering dust as his uncle always got distracted by creating new inventions, instead of fixing old ones. A habit which kept most of his clients waiting for days.

A constant tinkering could be heard coming from a crafting table to the left, where magically-enchanted tools were hard at work by their own accord, creating small objects and dismantling them for no apparent reason. A bunch of golems, much larger than Prototype 024, fumbled with pieces of machinery under the orders of a single man.

Malcolm Stormheart, Alex's uncle, was held in high regard by the entire city for his inventions, which more often than not, combined together with the whimsical nature of Myth Magic, with the practicality of Storm Magic. He was a man in his forties, stubbornly wearing a shabby white lab coat over, far more traditional, wizard robes, an outfit which genuinely looked horrible for him. An excited smile, cornered by an unshaved short beard, lit his features as he mumbled instructions to his golems, telling them, step by step, how to build his new idea.

"Is this your new invention?" Alex asked, closing the distance to the weird piece of machinery.

Uncle Malcolm turned his way, recognition sparked behind squared glasses as his brown eyes shifted to his nephew. "Oh, Alex, you're just in time! I introduce you to the first machine for the mass production of treasure cards!"

"You mean… That now you can mass produce them?!"

"Of course, making one using the previous method was too troublesome, now it just needs you to press some buttons and have the right reagents."

"Quite accessible… Professor Balestrom will be jealous."

"Given the time I put into this project, I sure hope so! The main problem now is that reagents are expensive regardless…"

Alex laughed. It was a well-known fact that the professor of Storm Magic and Alex's uncle constantly tried to outsmart each other with their newest inventions. This time, his uncle had definitely outdone himself, creating yet another revolutionary item; Treasure Cards.

They were still in their early testing, and sometimes they tended to explode for no reason at all, but the simple result of being able to compress spells into cards, easy to carry around and use, was mind-blowing, to say the least.

"This will actually revolutionize how spells are cast, won't it? Now you just have to name them differently, 'treasure card' is horrible."

"You think so? I like it. They are gold and shiny!"

"Uncle, may I remind you that you are supposed to be a genius? Saying stuff like that in front of anyone won't keep the funding coming."

" Oh, calm down boy. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best explanation."

"If you say so…"

"Got the ink?" Uncle Malcolm asked, after making sure that a particularly clumsy golem attached the last piece to his machine.

"Sure," Alex replied, emptying the contents of his enchanted bag. Making sure to leave something for himself, he took out a large number of bottles containing ink. When he had bought it, the shopkeeper had asked him in bewilderment the reason for completely emptying her stocks, but he, not knowing the reason himself, hadn't replied."

"Everything alright with your school items, I trust."

"Yeah…"

Uncle Malcolm wasn't easily fooled though, and catching on Alex's indecisive tone, he asked, "Did you end up fighting with someone? Did you say anything rude to poor Eudora?"

"I just argued with the Fireblade brat! He didn't understand what I wanted to say," Alex replied hotly.

"I see… Most of the time, how you say something is more important than the thing itself. Remember that-"

"I know, I know. I'm smart, so I should be able to connect my brain to my mouth. It's hard, you know? People just assume I'm insulting them when I'm just really stating facts!"

"I can imagine. Try to ease them into it beforehand, then you might just have an actual conversation."

"Are you sure? It seems needlessly hard. I mean… Instead of saying something like… You stink! I should go around and say something like… um… You don't smell very nice?"

Malcolm Stormheart laughed, shaking his head. "Not exactly, but it's a start. And oh boy, is the smell that bad?"

Alex nodded. "Yep, time to take a shower, uncle."

"Science and magic don't wait for anyone! We have to do this now, bad smell isn't an issue!"

"Uncle, I'm pretty sure that the bad smell is indeed an issue as far as I'm concerned…"

After pouring the ink into a tank in the machine, Malcolm Stormheart pressed some buttons as he looked at a monitor full of number combinations. It was then, that the machine activated, thrumming and beeping as text and numbers traveled across the monitor.

The noises faded away as the instructions given by the wizard were executed. A single golden card came out of the machine, ending right into Malcolm's open palm. The image of a Thunder Snake was portrayed at the top, and under it, there were a couple of numbers, respectively, 125 and 165.

Alex didn't know how his uncle had obtained the numbers under the picture, and he was probably using a scale of his own invention, perhaps to see how much power could the cards contain before exploding.

"Let's test it, shall we?" Uncle Malcolm said. The card slowly lifted itself from his palm, almost as if it reacted to the man's words. With a smirk, Uncle Malcolm touched it with his finger and the card lit up. Magical energy flowed free from it and a Thunder Snake materialized, in its full glory, in front of them. The creature hissed and slithered across the room, coiling its scaly, blue body around the aquarium and waiting for orders that never came.

"Great job, uncle!" Alex said, getting excited himself for such a quick result.

The card must have finished its charge, because the creature hissed one last time and disappeared in thin-air soon after, without attacking anything.

Uncle Malcolm, smiled back. "Thank you, Alex. The issue of its low charge will have to be looked into, but as of now, this is a good enough result. Still, I need to ask you to avoid talking to anyone about this."

"Sure."

Alex took his place on a chair as his uncle started tinkering once again with his machine. It had always been like this; Alex would come to his uncle's house and pass some time with him. His uncle, on the other hand, spent most of his time working on some new, weird project.

With time, and by asking questions, Alex had ended up understanding most of the basic principles of his uncle's work, often being able to give him simple insight on things. Other children found it fun to play around and lose time, but not Alex. He loved to learn new things in that house, so normal on the outside, yet so interesting on the inside.

This time, though, his visit was cut short. His uncle straightened up and put his hand on his temple, a habit he developed over time whenever he spoke telepathically to someone. Alex frowned as his uncle's smile dropped.

"Alex, go back home, quick! Someone stole Lumina Crystals from the Four Falls Mills. Not even Balestrom was able to find out who! I need to get there as soon as possible or things won't turn out pretty." Without waiting for a reply, Uncle Malcolm dropped everything he was working on and teleported away in a flash.

Alex was left alone in the room, as he always was when his uncle was called upon for an emergency. He sighed, stood up, and went home, wondering just what had happened at the Mills to have his uncle so worked up about it.


	5. A New Friend

**I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs. Huge Thanks to Jones for beta-reading.**

* * *

 ** _Chapter 5- A New Friend_**

* * *

The Olde Town didn't give off the feeling of being much older than the rest of Wizard City. It was built in levels on the hillside, with a single winding road descending from the highest one to the lowest, like a grey river made of stone. Green-roofed towers stood at every level like huge sentinels, keeping a close watch on the incessant flow of people below.

"Want to see the harbor?" Kane asked with an encouraging smile.

"Sure!" exclaimed Shard, running down the road behind Kane as his heartbeat sped up in excitement. He had never seen the sea, but he had read a novel about a pirate once. He didn't enjoy the story itself, but the idea of travelling on endless expanses of water on what could be perceived as an elaborate piece of wood had been enough to keep him interested. There were supposed to be three seas on Greyfell, but he had seen them only in movies.

As he got closer he had the feeling that something was off, but it was thrown aside by the awesome display of ships harbored at the docks. Most of the ships were similar to how he imagined they would be, many of them were short in height and long in length and two had metallic parts attached in weird places, having uses that he couldn't guess.

Shard quickly descended down the road towards the still-looking water, which he couldn't distinguish from the sky. This was the first time he was glad of being in such a place. He had always wanted to look at the ocean, and now his wish had been granted.

His running suddenly came to a stop, as he realized that there was no sea.

Shard wanted to slap himself for thinking that the sea would have looked as still as the sky. He was completely speechless: There was no water at all, the ships were actually flying.

He walked slowly to an empty dock, staring down in the blue immensity that was the sky. _What's up with this place?_ he thought, completely mind-blown. _Is it possible that the whole world is actually flying?_

He continued to look at the blue expanses under him for a few minutes, unsure whether to be scared to death by this newly discovered characteristic of Wizard City, or simply astonished by it.

"Do you like it?"

Shard stuttered, eyes fixed to the Harbor in disbelief, "Th-there is no water."

"Of course there is no water, these ships come from other worlds."

Shard's eyes widened in realization. "Do you mean that it is possible to reach other worlds by ship?"

"Yeah, you either do that or use the Spiral Door."

"The Spiral Door?" Shard asked, confusion increasing in his head.

"Wizards use it to travel the Spiral, it sort of connects all the worlds," Kane explained, but then, as he seemed to realize something, he stared at Shard in bewilderment. "If you don't know anything about the doors and the ships, how did you get here in the first place?"

Shard sighed and started explaining. "I sort of fell into a hole…"

He told Kane about the summoning, Malistaire, Emer, and his first few days in Wizard City. He found it surprisingly easy, and once he had started his monologue, went on for about twenty minutes, freeing himself from a burden that he didn't even know he was carrying. He didn't get out of the way to tell him about things that he didn't understand himself, such as the black cat or his fear of magic, but as his memories were brought to the light of day one by one and shared with someone else, they felt less menacing.

"You met Malistaire? And you survived?!" said Kane, his jaw wide open.

Shard sighed, at least the boy seemed to understand how dangerous that had been.

"That must have been amazing!"

"What?!" Shard found himself backing away, confused by the reaction his words had triggered.

"You witnessed a fight between two of the most powerful wizards in Wizard City! I would do a troll's laundry for a week to see something like that!"

Shard thought about the explosions, the magical barriers, and the feeling of impending doom that had filled the room during the fight, then he looked directly into Kane's red eyes, brimming with enthusiasm. A question, naturally popped up in his mind; _should I throw myself into the void around the city before it's too late, or should I go to the wand shop with him?_

"Shard, pay attention, you might fall down!" shouted Kane, coming to the rescue of a reckless boy who was walking dangerously near the edge of the dock with a resigned expression on his face.

Twenty minutes later, they had managed to find Eudora's shop. The owner, Eudora Tangletree, seemed to have finished all her stocks ten minutes before, selling most of her ink to a boy. "He told me that he needed all of it," she explained apologetically.

"Was he a white haired boy in a purple robe by any chance?" Kane asked.

"Yes, do you know him?"

"Oh, he is a dear friend. Do you know where I can find him?" The supposedly innocent tone that Kane had tried to use came out as extremely creepy.

"He didn't tell me anything of where he would be going next," replied Eudora.

"I am so going to lock him up into the Haunted Cave if I manage to find him!" erupted Kane in anger as they walked away from Eudora's shop empty-handed.

Shard couldn't understand how Alex had been able to find the money to buy litres upon litres of ink, let alone how he managed to carry them all by himself. When he expressed those concerns to Kane, he said, "We have enchanted bags for carrying around many things, and he is filthy rich."

"But why did he do that? Was it just to annoy us?"

"No, he wanted to annoy any person looking for it, I guess... He likes to annoy people."

They headed towards the shopping district once again, talking about random things. Shard was surprised by how quickly Kane could open up to a complete stranger, telling him all about his hopes for the future, his daily life in Wizard City, and on top of that, telling a joke involving two wizards and a fairy fighting over a rock.

"Oh right, I forgot to ask you which kind of wizard you'll become!"

Shard's blood ran cold. It was the second time that day that someone had asked him that question. He knew that Kane wasn't there when Alex had asked, but he didn't want to go through the same awkward situation all over again.

"I have no idea what these different kinds of magic everyone is talking about are," he confessed. If Kane turned out exactly like Alex, he couldn't do anything about it. It only meant that he would have to find the wand shop by himself.

"Really? Let me explain then!" Kane said, jumping in front of him with a smile.

Shard relaxed into a grin as Kane cleared his throat and started explaining, in a similar fashion to that of a teacher. "There are many kinds of magic, and each one of them keeps its arts rather secret."

His know-it-all act lasted for a few seconds, then he got excited and his explanation devolved into the rant of a hyperactive five year old. "We are all pyromancers in my family... You must see my dad conjuring fire, it's so cool! Then there are the diviners such as Alex's family, and they use lightning to zap things I guess… But Death wizards are cool too, you must see them in the arena!"

Kane then went on in a more controlled way, as he noticed he had been attracting gazes from random people on the other docks. "I have also seen lots of theurgists at work, but it's boring. They heal people and mainly work at the hospital. Then there are others such as Ice, and… what was it called? Ah, Myth. Those are somewhat rare."

Shard had a hard time following the explanation. In truth, Kane's speech didn't help him at all; he was saying random words and commenting on whether he liked them or not, or noting random curiosities.

"Anyway, now that you know them, which would you choose?" Kane questioned.

Shard didn't have the heart to tell him that the explanation was horrible, given how much enthusiasm Kane had shown while giving it, so he resorted to say the most harmless from the little he understood, since there was too much zapping, death, and other dangerous stuff involved.

"I think the school for theurgists might be nice?" he said, more as a question than anything. He had met theurgists and he knew that they helped people. What Kane described as boring sounded so much better than the supposed fun of zapping things with lightning or consuming them with fire.

"Oh, I see… You are on the boring side. I will become a legendary pyromancer! Just watch me, I'll be more powerful than my great grandfather and save worlds from destruction on a daily basis!"

After hearing that, Shard was quite glad of being on the boring side. Facing impending doom wasn't what he would define as 'fun.'

They managed to get through the tunnel to the Shopping District, and walked slowly towards the wand shop. Shard looked up at the sky, where he couldn't spot even a single cloud. He had never cared that much for the weather, but now that shade of blue reminded him of his futile hope. Wizard City felt like a prison to him. A chunk of land in the sky. He had felt hope when he had seen the ships harbored in Olde Town, since that meant that he had a way to escape, but his promise to Emer kept him from attempting anything. He would try to fit in this madness.

 _I will try hard,_ he thought, glancing at the staff of a blue-robed passerby. He had no idea how a stick or a staff could be considered magical, but he had seen them used in a destructive duel, which didn't make him fond of having one himself.

"Kane, do all wizards use wands and staffs?"

"Most of them do, but there are some exceptions," Kane answered, stopping to look at a weird cylindrical object exposed in a huge shop window. "For example, we still have the sword used by my great grandfather to slay that dragon. My father hid it somewhere when grandpa died though, saying that it was a family heirloom that shouldn't be misused. That is why I can't show it to you, sorry."

"If it's a family heirloom, you shouldn't show it to random people in any case," Shard commented.

Kane was looking at the cylindrical object with intensity, as if hypnotized by it, and said in a dreaming tone, "Yeah, whatever."

"Could you please tell me what you are looking at?" Shard asked, not yet used to the magical technology of that world.

Kane turned towards him with a grin and answered "It's a high-intensity flamethrower for gardening purposes, of course!"

"Riiight… And you are staring at it because?"

"Think of how many things I could use it for!" Kane exclaimed, eyes shining.

"That's it, we are on our way," concluded Shard, dragging the other boy away from the shop window, which actually sold things that looked like gardening utensils and plants, so Kane wasn't even lying about it.

 _How can you even use a flamethrower for gardening?_ Shard wondered.

They found their way to a narrow road and entered a door engraved with important-looking symbols. The wand shop sold many things that didn't even come close to resembling wands. The classical wooden sticks were actually only a part of the wide range of lethal items sold inside. There were swords, lances, spears, and staves, all of which were organized with perfect order on the shelves.

"You came back sooner than I thought you would. Was yesterday not enough for you?" said a yellow-robed man who sat on a workbench, engraving mysterious runes on a big staff. He had short white hair, wrinkles that made him look like an overgrown frog, and completely exhausted brown eyes.

"Yesterday I came to look... Today I'm actually buying something!" exclaimed Kane.

"Alright, so stay there and don't you dare touch anything. We can't risk another fire starting up," the old man warned.

"What's this?" asked Kane, carelessly waving a long spear around the room.

"What did I just tell you?" the man sighed, shaking his head.

"Come on, Artemus! Nothing is going to happen this time!"

"Just leave things alone," Artemus replied, as with a wave of his own wand the spear disappeared from Kane's grasp and appeared in his own.

Shard thought that the two of them must have known each other for some quite some time, since they were talking in a very natural way.

Artemus shook his head and turned towards Shard."What type of wand are you looking for?"

"I have no idea…" he replied, clueless.

"First year uh? Well, since it's not sure which magic you'll study, it's always better to start off with a basic wand, so that you won't have trouble with any kind of spells," Artemus proposed.

"But he told me he would like to be Life!" Kane complained.

"How many times do I have to repeat it to you? You can't really decide the school of magic for yourself since the Book of Secrets was created. You'll know it for sure only when you get your Spellbook."

"But then it isn't certain that I'll become a pyromancer?!"

"Since you come from a family which is extremely affiliated with Fire, it's almost certain, but it's not an absolute," replied Artemus.

"So I might end up in Ice!" Kane exclaimed melodramatically.

"Pft, don't be so dramatic and hope with all your heart to not be Myth."

"Why? Is it dangerous?" Shard asked, as he noticed how Kane had stopped breathing when the school was mentioned.

"Yes and no… Professor Drake is the real problem. I have been his assistant for three years… Look at me now and back then," Artemus answered, as a picture of a seventeen year old boy smiling in front of the huge tree near the dormitories appeared on the counter with a wave of his wand.

"Is this you at a younger age?" questioned Shard.

"Yes. This is me three years ago. I graduated from Ravenwood and recently found a job here."

"What?! How is that possible?" asked Shard, backing away from the wrinkly, supposedly young old man.

"This is what we call the Cyrus Drake radiation. He gives so many impossible tasks and so little consideration for anything other than his research, that anyone who passes too much time in his company, trying to get a good mark, ends up getting old at an irrationally fast rate," he explained seriously.

Shard stared at him wide-eyed for a few seconds, hoping with all his heart not to end up in the clutches of that professor.

"Does that mean that you will die younger from old age?" Kane wondered out loud as he walked around the shop, looking at the most destructive weapons exposed.

"You won't get rid of me that easily. I just need to relax and get a special weekly treatment at the infirmary. I'll get my youth back!" Artemus replied, giving Shard a wooden wand covered entirely in small runes and telling him the price.

"Well, is there anything else that you need?" he added, after Shard gave him a bunch of gold coins.

"There is me left! Can I please take this one?" asked Kane, depositing a flaming pole axe on the counter.

Artemus smiled and sighed and then said,"yes, I knew that you would choose this one."

"So I can actually take it?"

"Sure. In fact, I cast a nice illusion on it just for you." Artemus waved his wand for the third time. The pole axe shone, and shrank, transforming into a small wand similar to Shard's.

"What happened?!" yelled Kane in disbelief.

"I have merely dissolved the illusion, child. Thank you for your purchase," said Artemus, trying hard to suppress his laughter.

"Ha ha, you are so funny," commented Kane sarcastically, looking at the miserable stick in his hands.

"You can always give it back." Artemus's proposal was accompanied with his extended hand.

"Nooo! My precious!" Kane hissed, clinging to the wand with all his might.

A few minutes later, Shard and Kane exited the shop with their newly bought wands.

"I need to go home now. Are you doing anything tomorrow?" Kane asked.

"Um… I need to visit Emer at the infirmary, but other than that I'm free," Shard replied.

"Okay then, see you tomorrow afternoon in the Commons." With a smirk, Kane turned his back to Shard and jogged down the road, without waiting for an answer.

"It depends on whether or not you'll remember me Tomorrow," Shard whispered. He didn't like the idea of waiting the whole day for someone that would never come. "But trying doesn't cost anything I guess…" He started to slowly walk down the road towards Ravenwood, hoping that the possibility of making a new friend was indeed true.

* * *

 **And that ends Shard's shopping adventure. It took me ages to finish it, but I like how it came out. I hope you enjoyed it. Tell me if you did or didn't** :D

 **If you have any questions I'm happy to answer them, as long as no spoilers are involved.**


	6. Patience

**Author's notes:**

 **This is a chapter from Emer's point of view, There was no way I could resist not writing at least one. Sorry if there are errors, but because of some circumstances, I decided to publish it today without having it beta read. Constructive criticism is appreciated and as always, huge thanks to who reviewed, favorited, followed or even read the story, your support keeps me writing.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6- Patience**

* * *

Emer turned and snorted in her bed. Marianne, who was the leader around there, had just brought her back to her room. She hadn't been trying to escape, as the lady insisted on accusing her. She had been merely trying to walk outside. It was part of her custom-sized rehabilitation! These theurgists didn't understand how having fun could be a very good medicine in itself. She would have recovered twice as fast if they let her go around the city.

"Stay put. There are other patients in need of assistance and we can't keep chasing you around," Marianne said with a tone of finality, as she closed the door behind her.

"Sure, another day of doing nothing I guess," Emer complained bitterly.

Her plan would have worked seamlessly if Daisy hadn't kept vital information from her. How was Emer supposed to know that Marianne could teleport anywhere in the infirmary whenever she felt like it?! That little sprite was going to pay for not telling her, one way or another.

A high pitched voice echoed inside Emer's head _. "You got caught, did you? You are terrible at sneaking around my dear."_

"It was your fault Daisy! There was no way I could have predicted that!" she growled to the empty room, aware that her voice couldn't get to her target. The voice talking in her head was nothing more than telepathy, which Daisy used to send her random mocking messages from the entrance hall.

" _I was right though, Marianne does keep a close eye on you,"_ the sprite paused, switching to an extremely excited tone, "On the bright side, your attempt distracted her long enough for me to retrieve my book from her office! Now nothing will stop me from reading how it ends, mwahaha," with that, she withdrew from Emer's mind.

"Great," she muttered sarcastically.

Emer had hoped that the Sprite would have helped her a tiny bit more, given that both of them shared the same objective of escaping from Marianne's clutches as fast as possible. The help coming from Daisy had always been limited due to her constant load of work, but this time she had straight up manipulated Emer to get her book back from Marianne. That had been utterly evil, even though it stood to reason that there was no point in seeking out the Infirmary staff to get out of the Infirmary itself.

Daisy may have looked like she didn't care for anything apart from her romance novels most of the time, but in reality, she took her job seriously, acting almost like a miniaturized network thanks to her telepathic abilities. Theurgists kept in contact with each other thanks to her and she was able to notice if someone wasn't feeling well anywhere in the Infirmary, promptly signaling the emergency to the appropriate staff member. Patient placement within the many rooms and urgency order were also part of Daisy's daily routine. In summary, she was the one who told everyone where to go and what to do.

Her multitasking was something truly exceptional and everyone in the Infirmary valued what she could do, even though it was widely known that putting up with her personality for long spans of time was extremely tiring.

That didn't mean that every once in a while Emer couldn't stop to have a quick chat at the reception, Daisy seemed very happy whenever it happened and would tell her all about Wizard City and Ravenwood. Emer had only to pay attention to avoid the passionate talks on a guy called Diego, whose full name was too long for her to remember. If she stuck to those guidelines, it would have been a nice and informative chat. Asking about the unicorn guy was taboo though, Daisy would become obnoxious in her obsession over him.

Unfortunately, Their pleasant chats were often interrupted by Marianne, who had apparently taken an active interest in making Emer's life as boring as possible, keeping her under constant observation and checkups.

The head theurgist's interest in her was something that Emer couldn't understand. Questions on the summoning incident bombarded her whenever Marianne wasn't busy with work and relieving those moments over and over again times during her stay in the infirmary wasn't exactly what Emer would have liked to do.

Marianne's constant attentions sometimes bordered the creepiness and Daisy didn't help with her very long and detailed conspiracy theories that attempted to explain it. All of them were completely off the mark, especially the one according to which Emer supposedly was a ninja pig hiding undercover on a secret mission to steal Gamma's hat.

Her case was considered an anomaly, that much even Emer could understand. Her soul had recovered with no complications after what could have been considered the spiritual equivalent of a very bad car accident. Marianne insisted that there was something wrong with the situation as a whole. Professor Ambrose would have never messed up a spell when a new student's safety would have been put at risk.

Emer found her gaze irresistibly attracted to the window, as the crystal-clear lake forcefully invaded her thoughts. She really wanted to walk on its shores or explore the many streets of the city. The truth sank in like a stone; she was stuck in the infirmary with no hopes of getting out, not in a couple of days at the very least.

A book from the pile amassed on the bedside table made its way to her hand. She had never been the bookworm type, experimenting things first hand was way more fun for her. The incident had crossed out that possibility though, leaving her unable to do pretty much anything. The books lent by Professor Ambrose during his visits where the only thing she had to pass time.

Old Ambrose was alright, she didn't blame him for the catastrophe that nearly cost her life. It was far more infuriating that she couldn't enjoy her last days of vacation visiting Wizard City. There was a magical city full of interesting things to do and see just outside the window, and she was stuck in that room with no way of escaping.

 _Is this a brand new torture set up specifically for me?_ she thought.

Careful not to ruin it, she opened the tome. The drawing of a skull was waiting for her on the left page and a disheartening wall of text on the right page.

Shaking her head slightly, she thought, _No thank you, no more Death school origins_.

She took instead the school brochure between the pages which had found a full-time job as a bookmark. Keeping a hold of it, Emer put the book aside. Her mind had memorized the basic introductions to the schools of magic written on it since the second day she had woken up. Emer wanted to jump around in joy like an overzealous rabbit at the thought of learning magic, and the long stay in bed had enhanced her enthusiasm even more.

Her hands passed the piece of paper to each other many times in quick succession, playing a pointless game.

 _I am so bored!_ her mind was yelling, looking frantically for something to do. She didn't mind to take a rest and stay in bed for a couple of days if she felt sick, but after a week stuck with the theurgists, her patience started to waver.

 _Calm down, Emer. Two days and they'll release you from here_ , she reminded herself for the hundredth time.

For the last three days, she had been able to walk the infirmary's corridors without any help. Her white hospital tunic had been her only outfit as she wandered around, sitting down to chat with random people whenever she felt too tired to continue her walks.

Looking back, it had been a conquest in itself. Soul damage wasn't as easy to recover from as physical damage was, the patient had to believe in the recovery to even have a slight chance. She was well aware that she wasn't even supposed to be able to move her body at all after what had happened. The first movements after coming back to consciousness had felt stiff as if she hadn't been the one moving her body.

Shard had looked extremely worried at the time, and she had made up a joke on the spot to try and make him feel better. The effect seemed to have been the opposite though, and she couldn't exactly recall what she had told him.

After the first difficult day of rehabilitation, she started to recover quickly. 'At an alarmingly fast rate' as Marianne told her. She had started her usual walks around the infirmary, filling her lungs with the calming scent that lingered in the halls, increasing her walking distance as much as she could every day.

There were other things to worry about apart from her health though. Shard would come every day to visit with depressingly huge puppy eyes. She was glad that he cared for her, but hey, she wasn't going to die anytime soon! That was how her new hobby had become to devise plans to cheer him up. Needless to say that the dedication she put into her new hobby didn't change anything at all. Honestly speaking, Emer feared more for Shard's attitude than for herself recovering.

She couldn't forgive herself for what she had done to him. It wasn't as simple as leaving a friend behind. Shard had problems even with basic interactions with other people. She had noticed how people tended to forget him easily. Too easily for that being normal. One time, they were playing with other kids at the orphanage, and five minutes after the game had started, Shard's existence had been erased from everyone's memories apart from hers. Whenever he didn't interact with anyone, everyone would treat him as if he was invisible and everything he did held no weight. He could have actually robbed a bank without anyone asking questions.

Emer wanted to understand this phenomenon better. It looked like a curse to her. Could it have been possible for her to forget him if he didn't come to the infirmary every day? She would have lied to herself if she was sure that it wouldn't have happened. How could Shard manage to stay sane in such a situation was beyond her. His only anchor to reality was the simple fact that she managed to remember him day after day, and the awareness of the fact made it all the worse.

Emer recalled asking Professor Ambrose about the curse, and at the time she was sure that he could have an answer ready to explain it all. The headmaster had answered in the way that she had least expected, stating that there was nothing such as a curse on Shard.

The mystery of why Shard was constantly being forgotten by everyone remained, but after Emer asked multiple times, Ambrose had spilled the beans and told her that he had some suspicions awaiting confirmation. Her efforts in trying to get something more out of him were mostly fruitless after that, but in the end, he told her that if there really was a curse, it had been cast on Greyfell itself.

There had always been something off about that world. She would blame that feeling whenever she felt unable to call it her home. The many years that she had spent there had never made it better.

Had Greyfell affected Shard in some way? Was Ambrose hiding something about Shard? She was sure that there was a reason for all these mysteries.

Ambrose was extremely vague in his answers, but she felt that she could trust him. He looked like a very busy grandpa, that would try to cheer her up whenever she felt down. He didn't mean any harm to her and Shard. They were safe at his school.

The curse wasn't the only thing that she had to deal with in the past few days though. Shard hadn't been giving Wizard City the chance it deserved and had gotten very close minded with everything regarding magic. He had gotten in the habit of continuously reminding her how such powers were dangerous, and how things could go wrong when people misused it. He had become very annoying after a while.

She shifted her gaze back to the brochure, looking to the huge tree that was Ravenwood's symbol. Shard wasn't wrong. Emer could understand his fears. What she didn't like, was that he refused to look at it any other way.

Magic wasn't necessarily something to fear, she could sense it, even from her room. Benevolent magic was all around them, enveloping the world in a warm hug. It wasn't as immediate as seeing it, but if Emer focused long enough, she could hear distant notes of an incredibly beautiful song. It was subtle but it was there, she couldn't sing it or even remember the single notes, but she wasn't imagining it. Emer wondered why Shard wasn't able to hear it. He was more focused on the magic happening in town, which looked like child's play compared to that melody.

If only he heard it, he would understand what I am trying to say, she thought.

Emer shifted her gaze aimlessly around the room, inspecting the immaculate white walls and the white marble with attention, as if a single crack or a crumble of bread on the floor could entertain her with a story, or even better, whisper secrets that could help her escape. Her eyes lingered on a single chair, the only one in the room, masterfully placed as close to the wall as possible as to look as if it was glued to it, but far enough not to scratch its nauseating immaculate perfection. She remembered how Ambrose had sat on that very same chair when she told him all about her worries.

At the time, she had been sure that Shard had been approaching magic the wrong way, closing up to it like a snail in its shell. He had been visiting her every day and stayed for as much time as possible, clearly upset when he had to leave. During their conversations, she had asked many questions on what he had been doing on his own, but he had always given her vague answers.

After long hours of having nothing to do, She had come up with a theory. Shard had been coming to the infirmary every day just to meet her, then he closed himself up somewhere for the rest of the day. She had also suspected that he tended to skip meals too.

Ambrose had come up with a suggestion to put her at ease. He would have given Shard money to buy all the school material so that he would have been obliged to walk around Wizard City for one day and discover how nice of a place it was.

"I find it quite unlikely for it to work," Emer had said when she had been presented with the offer.

Ambrose had given her an encouraging smile. "He might meet up with some interesting people and change his mind."

"But nobody would interact with him if he doesn't make prior contact. Let alone remember him the next day!"

"Perhaps that might not be entirely true anymore," Ambrose had replied, adjusting his monocle.

"Really? How?!"

"I have not had the pleasure to interact with the young boy for a few days. That somehow does not stop me from discussing his wellbeing with you at the moment. And I dare say, based on the gossips of a peculiar sprite on your supposed forbidden love for each other, that the infirmary staff has not forgotten him either," Ambrose had explained with an amused glint in his eyes.

"What?! That's not true! Daisy is lying!" She had blurted out. Only after calming down, had she grasped the meaning of what Ambrose had just said. "You mean that the curse is broken?"

"As I told you, there is no curse on him. We might guess that Wizard City's fresh air can mend what is broken." He had sighed as if many years weighed down on him. "I must warn you though, if you deeply care for him, do not cut the connection that binds the both of you. Not now that he needs you the most. Doing so would mean to lose him forever."

Emer had nodded, even though she had had no idea what Ambrose had meant by 'connection'. She had dismissed it as an overly dramatic way of saying friendship.

In the end, Emer had decided to trust Ambrose and had lied to Shard when he had asked the meaning behind the money given to him. She had passed most of the day glancing randomly towards the window as if someone would have climbed up to inform her of the situation. A sense of relief washed over her when Shard had come back the next day, hardly suppressing a smile.

It seemed that he had met a boy called Kane, and even though he had passed most of the time telling her how weird, dangerous and reckless the boy was, she could tell that Shard was very happy for the encounter. From Shard's explanations, he seemed a funny boy who she would have liked to meet someday.

"He told me to meet up again tomorrow. Do you think… I mean… it got better so why not?" Had asked Shard, his voice shattering.

"I'm sure he'll remember you," Emer had replied in her best happy-go-lucky tone, hoping with all her heart that it would have turned out true.

"Are you sure?" Shard had asked, looking at her with his pale green eyes full of hope.

"I'm sure," She had said, patting Shard's shoulder.

"Thank you, Emer," Had been Shard's words, as he exited from her room that day.

She had hoped that Professor Ambrose was right. She had literally tried to pray to Bartleby the whole day or something along the lines of it at least, unsure if wizards actually prayed.

The next day, the long-awaited confirmation had arrived. Kane had managed to remember his newly acquired friend without trouble. She had beamed in happiness at Shard, who she could tell, was giving his best not to jump with joy. His opinion on magic hadn't changed much, but at least his situation had gotten more bearable.

Many people took for granted having people all around them to talk to, in Shard's case, though, it was something extremely valuable. In the end, Emer wanted him to be able to have a normal life too, whether the curse existed or not, and if normal meant to live in a world full of nonsensical stuff, so be it.

She turned and snorted in her bed once again. Kane would take them to the fairgrounds to celebrate her full recovery. Time didn't seem to pass at all as she impatiently waited for her freedom.

Emer got up from the bed and put on her slippers, then went straight to the window. The wind caressed her face as she slowly opened it, carrying many promises of what the future kept in store for her in the new world.

"Two more boring days to go huh?" She sighed, looking at Wizard City as the sun slowly disappeared behind the colored buildings, painting the sky in shades of orange. Her hand closed in a playful fist, taunting the future itself and with a laugh, Emer said, "The fairgrounds better be something spectacular, or else."

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed it, this wasn't even supposed to be a chapter at all at first, but I ended up stuffing it with important stuff so it became relevant to the plot. Next chapter, things will start happening and I'm dead set on publishing it next week.**


	7. To the Fairegrounds

**Author's notes:**

 **Hey there! I had a very busy week, but I still managed to get this chapter out in time. *Author pats himself on the head* good boy, have a cookie. Yummy! This chapter is where things start to get more interesting. As always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7- To the Fairegrounds**

* * *

"There you are!" Kane exclaimed, waving his hand frantically as Shard and Emer made their way towards him.

"Sorry, it's my fault for being late," Emer apologized, probably afraid of giving a bad first impression. "The head theurgist wouldn't let me leave yet, even though I feel just fine today."

Kane dismissed her apologies with a shrug. "No worries, I just arrived here too."

Shard thought that it was the right time for introductions and tried to conjure up the right words to do so. Unfortunately, all the time he had passed thinking about the best words to introduce his two friends to each other in the best, were effortlessly trampled by Kane, who didn't lose any time and said, "I'm Kane Fireblade, you're Emer right? Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Kane. Thank you for showing us around the place," she answered with a bright smile.

"No problem, we need to have some fun before school starts after all."

"Well said!"

Shard, feeling superfluous in their conversation, decided to ask the question that had been bothering him since the day before, "So, Kane, where are the Fairegrounds?"

"They're just around the corner. You'll see."

Emer looked around the commons, her eyes scanning the surroundings voraciously. "I wonder what kind of games are there. I can't wait! It's the first time I visit a fair!"

"Don't you have anything like that on Greyfell?" Kane asked as he started to walk down the road, showing the way to the other two.

"Well, yes and no…" She replied indecisively, "There was one on Greyfell, but it was out of town. There are strict rules on who enters and leaves the city though, so there was no chance for us going there."

"That's quite unfair…" Kane commented, directing them onwards. "You'll be surprised by the different games we have here!"

He then went on to talk about his favorite games at the Fairegrounds. There were games for all kinds of fun: treasure hunt games, tabletop games, some crazy rides, and simulation games. Most of them were nothing like the things Shard and Emer were used to. Apparently, they were played in enchanted tents, which conjured up illusions for the player. Kane spent lots of time describing what according to him was 'The best game of all time' which was something called 'Dueling Diego.'

"Oh no, not that unicorn guy again!" Emer exclaimed, shaking her head as if denying a horrible truth. The two of them looked at her perplexed until she waved her hand dismissively, "It's nothing, I just remembered something a friend mentioned."

Kane didn't linger on it and in no time started to talk about the game again. Shard didn't understand all the intricacies of Dueling Diego, but the basic concept was that the player had to defeat monsters using a sword.

He still had some problems accepting the fact that most of the games were created through illusions, let alone actually considering entering one, especially one stuffed to the brim with nasty monsters ready to come after him. It didn't look fun at all. Of course, Shard had been expecting something similar ever since Kane had told him about the place. In a world full of magic, entertainment must have been magical too.

Each step brought them closer to the dreaded place, and Shard was hard at work to find excuses to avoid most of the games. The thought of being trapped forever in a magical illusion along with exotic-sounding things named gobblers and blood bats gave him the chills. On the other hand, the thought of losing a newly-found friend because of his fear of magic was equally as terrifying.

As Emer and Kane chatted mindlessly about what they wanted to do once they got there, Shard tagged along behind, his lips curved into a small, nervous smile. It had been easy for those two to start a conversation together. Both of them were extremely easy-going and understood each other perfectly when it came to having fun. Maybe if he tried hard enough, he could become like them one day. In his heart, he hoped so.

The entrance to the Fairegrounds was nothing more than an old rusty gate which stood between the green hedges that surrounded the entire place. For some reason, it was closed shut and Kane didn't wait to express his disapproval.

"What?! How is that possible?" He shouted questioningly towards the closed gate.

" I was looking forward to coming here…" groaned Emer.

"I don't understand. It should have been open today," Kane mumbled, pointing accusingly at the iron bars. "And this gate... It shouldn't even be here in the first place!" He then tried to push open the metallic obstacle without much success, attaching himself to it like a monkey at the zoo.

"Maybe it closed by itself because… It must have been the wind or something!" Tried Emer, with an exaggeratedly optimistic guess even for her own standards.

"Let's try to call someone to open it," Kane agreed.

As his two friends tried to open up the gate with all their might, calling out aloud for someone to notice them and let them in the promised land of games, Shard breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully, their attention would have shifted to something that involved less magic and far more normal kinds of entertainment.

"There is a signpost here," Shard muttered, pointing near the gate. "It says it's closed for maintenance."

Kane rubbed his hands together, looking left and right with a mischievous grin."Too bad... Hey, maybe we can get inside through a hole in the hedge. I saw one a few days ago."

"Really? Where is it?" Emer asked.

"It's farther ahead, you'll see."

"Hey, you aren't actually considering breaking in, are you?" Shard joined the conversation, folding his arms across his chest in disapproval. He was willing to break rules when necessary, but doing so for no reason wasn't something he liked to do.

"And if that is the case?" Emer replied.

"You can't be talking seriously. There must be a reason for the gate. The magic could be broken... or something. It could be dangerous!"

Ruining the fun for everyone wasn't something that he enjoyed doing. He felt like the bad guy, and part of him was afraid that they would toss him apart and go to have fun together. Even so, he would have liked his friends to not be mortally injured by broken spells.

Emer shrugged, cracking a reassuring smile as she saw the unease written all over Shard's face. "come on, you know me, I'm not going to do it. Just curious, that's all."

"Wait, so we aren't breaking in?" Kane asked, taken aback by the sudden revelation.

Shard and Emer stared at him wide-eyed. "Don't tell me you were actually considering it!" Emer laughed.

"I was serious!"

"You are going to need a very looooong lesson on common sense, my friend," she said, patting Kane on the shoulder.

After bickering for a while and successfully convincing Kane to abandon the idea of sneaking into the Fairegrounds, they decided to opt for something different to pass the time.

"We can go to the pet pavilion and look at the races, or we can get to the other fair in Cyclops Lane, even though it's quite far. Oh, there is also the arena! It should be open for demonstrative duels," listed Kane, counting the options on his fingers and walking around in circles around the other two as if to make the gears in his head turn faster.

"What's that?" asked Emer.

"The arena is where wizards go to have sparring matches or to take part in tournaments," explained Kane, turning towards her "Are you interested in duels Emer?"

"No, not that, but that!" she clarified, pointing to something inside the Fairegrounds.

"That's just one of the rides. It spins around and does nothing interesting."

Shard looked inside too and understood what Kane was talking about. A carousel stood at the centre of a square in perfect condition, Its many mounts resembled dragons, unicorns sharks, and other creatures. Emer wasn't pointing at the carousel though.

"There are many of them floating around. Shard, do you see them too?"

"Yes, they look similar to those at the orphanage," Shard answered, ignoring the confused look on Kane's face.

There were at least four of them. Blue orbs hovered in front of the carousel, splitting up into smaller ones from time to time, just to shatter and reform in cores of blue as they came in contact with each other. Shard's gaze was irresistibly attracted to them, and he noticed that there was something moving inside.

Into the spheres, substance took form, shaping itself to resemble a wide range of incredibly small creatures. Fish-like things, swam lazily around, bats appeared and disappeared, flying free as birds, snakes slithered, hissing in warning, and a few ghosts floated among them, lost as they patrolled the limited space inside the orb. The creatures clashed against each other in an invisible battlefield. Every time one of them was defeated by another, it shattered into blue fragments, only to reform once more to join the fray or lose form and fracture the sphere where they were battling, making it split in smaller ones.

Similar things appeared regularly on Greyfell, except that he had never seen that many all cramped in the same place, and most importantly, he had never seen creatures battling inside.

"We should probably get away…" concluded Shard, his body moving on his own in a desperate attempt to run.

"Maybe this time you are right, these feel different. They are no good," Emer agreed in a whisper.

Kane asked, bursting with impatience, "Can you tell me what you are talking about?!"

"We'll tell you once we are away from here," Emer concluded, attempting to drag Kane away, as she kept an eye on the orbs.

Shard had already turned on his heel to walk away, hoping for his two friends to follow soon after, when an acute and loud scream ripped through the air, its source clearly behind the gate.

"Wait, there is someone inside!" exclaimed Emer, shifting her gaze back towards the entrance.

"No Emer don't-"

"Too late," She said, getting back to the entrance." Kane, tell me where that hole is."

"Sure…"Kane scratched his head and walked towards it, prompting for her to follow.

Shard's gaze met Emer's for a few seconds and the girl smiled reassuringly at him. His face was probably giving away his fears of getting anywhere near those things.

"Stay here for a little while, I'll go see what happened," she said, rushing after Kane, who had already found the hole hidden beneath some branches.

Shard wanted to tell Emer to wait, to think things through before acting. They heard a scream, but those things should have been harmless. Maybe there was another reason for it. In the end, if something really had happened, they could have called someone to help them out. It would have been the best thing to do.

The headmaster was the only person Shard could think of if he was forced to ask for somebody's help. He didn't trust the old man completely, but Ambrose would have never refused to help Emer out.

He had to call for help. He had to...

A scary single thought, hit him hard, shattering his plan to pieces, _Would Ambrose recognize me?_

People seemed to be able to remember him in Wizard City, but could he actually count on it being true for longer periods of time? He hadn't seen Ambrose for quite a few days. Was he going to believe a stranger who told him about dangerous blue lights in the Fairegrounds? Maybe he could find other people on the road though.

 _Only to be labeled crazy in a world full of impossible stuff going on at all times?_ he found himself thinking.

He had always lived on Greyfell with very little trust for others to do things for him, he couldn't start to blindly trust people out of the blue. The only person he could trust was Emer, who was heading towards something he perceived as dangerous. He had to go after her!

His legs felt like jelly as he forced them to move in his desperate chase, arriving at the hole seconds before the other two had gone through it.

On the other side of the hedge, stood numerous tents of varying colors, each labeled as a different attraction. Shard could instantly recognize some of them, such as 'Potion Motion' and 'Conjuring' from the names that Kane had dropped a few minutes earlier. Having a better visual than he did out of the gate, he could see that some of them had been taken down, looking like wildly colored huge carpets. He could see scorch marks on some of them as well as on the ground, it almost looked like lightning had struck down with precision. An eerie atmosphere surrounded the place like a shroud, tension rising with his every breath. If his two friends felt it too, or if it was a feeling born of his imagination, Shard couldn't tell.

Emer looked at him and opened her mouth to say something, closing it as if she had decided against it. She shook her head and abstained from any comments, turning around to inspect the place for the source of the scream.

"So, where do you think that scream came from?" Kane asked with a somewhat excited expression, probably happy to be on some kind of adventure.

"I think it came from that tent over there," Emer replied, pointing at a blue tent near the carousel which was labeled as 'Skull Riders.'

"You sure have a fine hearing." Kane ran onwards, passing under the floating spheres without any care in the world, unable to see them and ignorant of the situation.

 _Just what are they?_ The silent question popped into Shard's mind spontaneously.

"They don't seem to react, let's go," Emer whispered, taking hold of Shard's arm and dragging him to the tent.

 _Slowly, slowly. They might notice us_ , Shard thought, closing his eyes in reflex as they carefully surpassed the orbs.

Nothing happened. Nothing at all. The lights continued on with their hovering, shattering and reforming, without reacting to their presence.

Shard breathed a sigh of relief as he got in front of the tent's entrance. Emer and Kane walked inside without thinking too much about it, just like they would have done with any other door. They instantly disappeared into the darkness as if an invisible and intangible veil prevented Shard to see what was hidden behind it.

Shard stopped in his tracks to gaze at the darkness in front of him. His friends had simply vanished in it. They weren't afraid to do so. Why was he?

The black hole in the tree came to mind as he slowly forced his trembling hand to reach for the tent's entrance. His hand vanished as soon as it went through the door. He swiftly retracted it in fear, checking on it to see if anything had happened. The hand was fine, nothing to worry about. It was far different from Greyfell this time.

He took a deep breath and turned towards the carousel once more before going in. The orbs had started moving swiftly in weird trajectories, seemingly excited by something. Shard eyed the surroundings with suspicion, spotting something that made him freeze in fear.

There, on the carousel, more precisely on the dragon mount, stood the black cat. Shard could recognize it among hundreds of black cats. The fear that made him tremble to his very core, his constant feeling of danger, and the vivid imagery of his demise that was shoved in his mind by force, those signs couldn't lie.

The cat's gaze crossed his own, its feline eyes locking him in place in a strong unbreakable grip. The feeling of hopelessness overwhelming him and images dancing in front of his eyes.

 _Screams echoed in the distance, traversing the ash-filled air like dry leaves in a storm. A mighty roar shook the ground as the huge flapping of a pair of huge wings became louder and louder, almost unbearable. His heart pounded at the very same rhythm, slow and steady, enthralled by the sheer destruction that the sound brought with it. Fiery breaths of inferno rained down upon the ruined city. Nobody was spared. The walls raised in defense of the fortress, the trap that doomed them all. Pain struck his heart. Forgotten people. Forgotten places. A forgotten wish._

Shard forcefully took a step backwards, trying to break free of those horrendous visions. He failed to keep his balance and stumbled back, falling inside the tent. His body never hit the ground, instead, he felt as if his fall didn't have an end.

He couldn't see the exit. All sources of light had been cut off once he had fallen into those endless depths. The feeling of dread lessened as the darkness enveloped him completely in a soft hug. He drifted away into an ocean of nothingness. His worries faded away to the back of his mind, as his eyelids felt heavy with tiredness. It felt like falling asleep after a very long day. The dreams were sure to come.

"We wish you a nice ride," he heard, losing his battle to stay awake.

* * *

 **Woah! And here I thought that the FaireGrounds were a fun place to go to. That black cat has the habit of appearing in the most unlikely places. What will happen next I wonder? What?! I have to write it myself?! Oh, well, if you insist. As always I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to, tell me whether you liked it or not, reviews always make my day and make me write faster :D**

 **See you next week!**


	8. Skull Riders

**Hey! I know, I know… I usually publish on Saturdays. This time I finished this chapter early though, and couldn't wait to share it with you. I hope you'll have fun reading it as much as I had writing it. I confess I have played the Skull Riders game only once… and I'm very, very bad at it, but well, it turns out I started to write about it, and that game has potential! So, why not?**

 **Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated and this time I won't forget to put the disclaimer. :P**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

 **And now, on with the story!**

* * *

 **Chapter 8 – Skull Riders**

* * *

"Woo-hoo! Nice one Kane!" A voice, unmistakenly Emer's, exclaimed in joy.

Gusts of wind blew into Shard's face, and his sight opened up to an immense cloudless sky.

Was he awake or asleep? Was it a dream?

He recalled closing his eyes a few instants earlier, but as soon as he did so, it seemed as if they opened up instead. Two large red bat-like wings flapped at regular intervals, keeping the creature on which he was seated mid-air. Shard blinked his eyes in confusion. Emer sat on the saddle too, her back turned to him as she clapped her hands.

"Hold on now, it's coming for us!" shouted Kane, his voice coming from somewhere ahead of Emer.

After a quick glance at the saddle on which he was seated Shard concluded that there was nothing on which to hold on. He heard a loud caw as a blur of black almost crashed into them. Whatever they were riding on, suddenly went into a nosedive, falling down to the white terrain below at full speed. Shard instinctively held onto the only thing he could find, which was Emer herself.

"And now they're toast!" Kane shouted, steering the reins in his hands with great proficiency. Taking a few moments to stop its descent, their mount gained height again, facing off its assailant.

The plumage of a huge black raven shined in the sunlight as the creature cawed defiantly in response. It nosedived after them, its sharp beak covered in filth and its claws protracted forward, ready to tear them apart. A hooded figure in a blue robe, rode on the creature's back shouting incomprehensible orders while pointing its skeletal hand in their direction, making its intent clear.

Shard held tight while their mount sharply changed its direction once again, its muscles tensing under its rough red scales as it quickly increased speed.

"Wha-What's happening?!" Shard shouted on top of his lungs, trying to overcome the wind that snatched his words away.

"You'll see!" Kane shouted back as he steered the reins. Was he commanding this huge thing with a simple pair of reins?

"Fire!" Kane shouted, pointing towards the huge raven. Their mount, a dragon nonetheless, lifted its lizard-like head and faced their assailant in response to the boy's order. A burst of red flames shot forward in a roar, enveloping the raven and its undead master.

Shard could clearly see the burned bones and dead corpse of the raven plummeting down to the ground below. Taking a better look, the whole landscape was littered with ashen remains of skulls and bones. An oversized outdoor cemetery, its inhabitants had fallen from the sky, only to move no more.

"That was a close one," Commented Kane as he slightly turned to Shard, leaving the reins altogether, "Did you like the show?"

"I think he thinks it's real, let's explain things... throughly," Emer offered.

"Well, you see... " Kane began.

"Leave the explaining to me, Kane. Others are coming. You deal with them," Emer said, pointing two ravens and their skeletal riders that were approaching them from a distance.

"Oh right." Kane shifted his attention from Shard and back to the fight.

"This is a game at the Fairegrounds, it's called Skull Riders. We have to defeat those skeletons before they defeat us," Emer explained, seemingly not bothered by the sudden shifts in direction that their Mount did to avoid nasty ravens and their undead masters.

"Fire!" Another stream of flames incinerated a skeleton, and barely missed another. Kane promptly changed direction and started Flying away, putting some distance between the skeleton to try again.

"As we defeat them, we get points and eventually prizes if we score high enough," continued Emer ignoring the huge bird that tried to dive-bomb them, only to be dodged at the last moment by Kane's improvised quick maneuver."All of this is just-"

"Duck, quick!" Shouted Kane.

Shard was brought down swiftly by Emer as something passed above them.

"Ugh, be more careful with all that air maneuvering of yours!" Emer didn't seem thrilled at the prospect of Kane passing right through the flock, exposing the dragon to attacks from all directions.

"Hey, I am the best among my friends at this game!"

"I know, I know, but the score isn't important right now."

"Aww... Okay, Will try to stay away, but I'm not doing miracles with so many of them."

Emer shook her head and addressed Shard again, "we have three lives, but we must try not to lose any of them as we search for the other rider." Shard's expression must have been of pure terror because she quickly added, "It's an illusion, don't worry. A setting for the game. We aren't really in danger... Well, we must avoid losing players to keep lives, so be careful not to be snatched away."

"Snatched away?" he asked, still trying to piece together what was exactly happening.

"Or fall down, or killed by the ravens. Was that how it worked, didn't it?" Half said, half asked Emer, turning to Kane for confirmation.

"Bit busy right now..." Kane said steering the dragon to rain fire upon two skeletons who had gotten dangerously close. "That's the gist of it, yes."

"Can we stop the game?" Shard tentatively asked, not having a good feeling about this whole situation at all. Surely, if it was only a game, there should have been an easy way to get out, even if it was an illusory game.

"We can't yet," replied Emer, pointing to some floating islands in the distance. "We saw another dragon falling down there before you reached us, and I think the one who was riding it might have been the source of the scream earlier."

The scream. He had almost forgotten about it. He instantly recalled the blue lights in the Fairegrounds, and the things fighting inside of black cat, it was there too at some point, though the details meshed together, disregarding any kind of chronological order whatsoever and mixing fantasy and reality. A dragon, there was a dragon flying in the ashen black skies. A dragon had attacked a city at one point, he remembered that. No, the city was only in his head, it didn't exist, did it?

The only dragon he had ever seen was the fake one that they were riding, no doubt about it. Despite that, he couldn't shake off the feeling that he forgot something extremely important.

"The rider might have left the game. There is nothing to do without a dragon," Kane said, patting the illusory creature on the neck as if to prove his point.

"Yes, but I rather check it out." Emer wasn't all too pleased with Kane's lack of interest on the other rider and his more than abnormal interest in the game itself. Shard couldn't blame her, it was clear by Kane's sneaky glances to the ravens that he really wanted to up his score a little bit more.

Kane spurred the dragon onwards, closing the gap to the floating islands as the skeleton riders continued to chase after them in flocks. The boy's evasive maneuvers were top notch though, and they managed to avoid getting hit along the way while reducing the enemy's numbers by a significant amount.

Between acrobatic nosedives and quick dodges, Emer told Shard more about the game. It looked like he had arrived late to the party. Kane and her had been flying above that desolate landscape for quite some time before Shard had appeared. No questions where asked from Shard's part on it, he had too many things on his terrified mind to think about without needlessly worrying about time inconsistency.

The illusion seemed to vibrate around him, reminding him that no matter how far or high the dragon flew, the entire world surrounding them was a spell. Magic, no matter how much Shard wanted to distance himself from it, always found a way to affect his life.

In a matter of minutes, Kane managed to distance the skeletons and their mounts, approaching the floating Islands and giving everyone on board a chance to take their breaths without the constant fear of incoming raids. The islands were larger than they had looked from afar. Lazily moving above the bone littered ground, they were covered in lush forests, open grassy fields, and barren deserts. What kept Shard from feeling at ease though, was the utter lack of sound. The wind, which constantly blowed on their faces, didn't move the Leaves of the trees, nor caressed the blades of grass. No birds sang from the branches, and nothing moved, everything was still, almost like it had been frozen in time.

"Help me look for the rider," Emer said, leaning right from the dragon's back to have a better view of the area.

"Over here!" Screamed a voice as they passed on a small Island, completely filled with short bushes which amassed themselves together like a dwarf-sized forest.

Shard took a moment to notice the girl that was waving at them from below. She wore a green robe with yellow trimmings, very much alike to that of the theurgists back at the infirmary, and because of it, she blended in perfectly among the plants around her. Her brown hair was styled in a double bun, peeping just below her pointed wizard hat.

Kane commanded the dragon to descend and in no time they landed near her.

"Thank Bartleby, someone came. Did Moira send you?" The girl asked, confidently approaching the dragon as if it was nothing more than an over-sized bunny.

"Moira?" they asked in unison.

"Moira Nightdust," the girl clarified. When they didn't seem to recognize the name she asked, "Weren't you sent by her? If not, what are you doing here?"

"We sort of got in to check on someone screaming. We thought we could help," Emer explained.

"Yeah, I guess that was me... I was caught off-guard by the game activating randomly," she said turning bright red.

Shard kept looking at the still trees with worry, glancing at the sky from time to time to look out for any stray raven-riding skeletons. He had a very bad feeling about all of it, something nagging him at the back of his mind, "Well, we found her now. Can we get out of here, please?"

"But I wanted to make a high score! We have four lives now!" Kane complained.

"No, we have to get out. I have to find Malcolm Stormheart and ask him what happened out there. Mana was acting weird just moments before I got imprisoned here," the girl said, as she climbed on top of the dragon and sat behind Shard.

 _Mana? That weird word again. Was that how the blue spheres are called_? Shard thought.

He didn't have time to dwell too much on the matter, as he had to hold tight for the dragon to take off. More raven-driving skeletons approached them from all sides, their escape routes almost entirely cut-off by the huge flock that had managed to catch up to giving it too much thought, Kane drove through, managing to avoid a potentially lethal ambush.

"Imprisoned? Shouldn't you have been able to get out just by thinking about it?" Kane asked, steering the dragon away from a particularly bold skeleton, who thought it was a good idea to jump from its raven to get to them. Missing them by a couple of metres, it fell down to the ground with a loud cry, only to disappear from sight.

Sabrina let out a small almost-dignified shriek, not completely at ease with the sudden movements of the mount, and replied, " As if I hadn't tried. Unfortunately, the illusion is malfunctioning. Is any of you a Conjurer?"

"Well, actually we haven't started Ravenwood yet," Emer confessed.

The girl gasped in surprise and scolded them, "You sure got yourself in trouble. The maintenance sign was there for a reason!"

"And we should have left you here?" mocked Emer.

"You do have a point I guess," the girl resigned."That means we are in this together. I'm Sabrina Greenstar, Journeyman theurgist, nice to meet you."

Emer and Shard told their names, and Kane followed suit. He then seemed deep in focus for a few seconds, the dragon flying around as it pleased, distancing itself from the ravens, who didn't have time to launch another assault.

"Yes, the game won't stop," Kane finally conceeded, retaking control.

"How are we supposed to do so by the way?" Emer asked.

There was a moment of silence. As silent as it could get with a roaring dragon chased down by screaming skeletons on cawing mounts.

"Just think you want to get out. The game is set so that you can do so whenever you want. It's like waking up from a dream," Sabrina explained.

"Right. So not being able to do it is nasty. What other options are there?"

"We can die," offered Kane, way too cheerfully for the words he had pronounced. "Um… not die in the true sense. Die in the game as in losing all our lives," Kane tried to clear up. Then he went out of his way to incinerate a raven, probably trying to avoid the awkward silence that followed his words.

"Die, uh? I don't really like the idea," commented Emer.

"Actually, I am not too happy about it either. There is another way though. We can try to get out through the entrance door," Sabrina said.

Entrance door? There is something like an entrance door in this place? Shard looked around aimlessly, without being able to spot it.

"Right, didn't think of that," Kane confessed with renewed enthusiasm. He made the dragon fly around in circles, avoiding enemies at every round. "But where is it? Wasn't it supposed to be on the platform down there?"

Sabrina's hand shot up, pointing the sun. "Not there anymore. Look up!"

The light blinded Shard as he tried to see what Sabrina meant. He rubbed his eyes and took another peak, the light radiating from the sun seemed to fade. No, looking closer that thing wasn't the sun. It was rectangular in shape and emanated light, like a giant light bulb. If Shard focused long enough, he could see the Carousel on the other side. That was their way out. They had only to reach it avoiding hordes of skeletons with an unhealthy bloodlust.

The dragon roared when Kane willed it to fly higher. The world below started to look fake and irrelevant like that behind a mirror. The shapes became blurry and unclear, like a fading dream. More enemies plummeted down as Kane continued to defeat them, but for every defeated skeleton, another took its place. Most of them weren't using complicated battle tactics, trying to overwhelm them with sheer number superiority. As time passed though, Shard noticed that they became increasingly smarter, planning feints and ambushes.

"Wow! You sure are pretty skilled in this game," Sabrina commented in awe after fire incinerated three enemies in a row.

"Yep, used to play this a lot last year, and you? Do you like it?"

Shard would have preferred if Kane didn't try to turn back whenever he tried to talk. As skilled as he could have been, he should have focused on what was happening around them a tad bit more. Was Shard the only one among them that couldn't see this as a game?

Sabrina shook her head and said,"I'm more the Potion Motion type really. My dragon went down in two minutes straight before I could understand what had happened."

"Attention to archers!" Emer shouted. An arrow hissed right beside them, missing the dragon's wing by a few centimeters.

"Archers? Are these a new update or something?" Kane asked, looking back to their pursuers.

"Less questions, more work. I can't shield us in an illusion, we got to do this the old-fashioned way," Sabrina, as determined as ever, said.

"I like the old-fashioned way," Kane replied with a smirk, showering all the enemies below in a destructive rain of fire, lowering down their numbers in a single experienced attack.

"We're almost there! Go faster!" Encouraged Emer, eyeing a flock of ravens that were coming for them from the left.

"I know, I know, you two sit back and don't talk. Follow Shard's example. Let the pros do their thing," Kane joked.

A sudden caw, a fast black blur, and a surprised shout. The dragon stopped going upwards and started to glide aimlessly.

"Kane!" Emer shouted, as their friend suddenly disappeared from the dragon's back.

"My recooooord!" The voice faded away in the distance, as its owner was being carried away by strong talons.

"They snatched him!" said matter-of-factly Sabrina.

"So… should we sit down and do nothing as he said? You know, pros totally know what they're doing," Emer commented.

"I can still hear yoooouuuu!" came Kane's faint response.

"Does any of you know how to ride this thing?" Sabrina asked.

Shard and Emer looked at each other and back at Sabrina with a blank expression, letting the realization sink in. They were so doomed.

Emer immediately tried to grab the reins, stirring the dragon towards the winged kidnapper. The mount started to move in weird trajectories as Emer tried to understand how everything worked.

"We can try to head for the exit anyway, and you know... shut down the system from outside," Sabrina offered, trying to keep herself from falling down, as the less than gracious maneuvers brought the creature up and down randomly. "I'll get sick either way, from the way this thing is moving."

Shard tried to remember the movements that Kane did to control the dragon, but as far as he knew, it wasn't anything special at all, and Emer was doing the same things with far less success.

"We can't leave Kane here! What if the magic malfunction affects him?" Emer used her whole weight to stir the mount right, evading another attack at the last second.

"Shard help out with the fire thingy," she added, trying to balance herself again on the saddle.

"Right…" Shard agreed with Emer, they had to save Kane. The bad feeling about this place wasn't going away and he couldn't help but think that something bad could happen to those who died inside. "How do I do it?" He didn't like the idea of destroying stuff with flames, but if they wanted to save Kane he would have to put up with it.

"Just point and say fire," Sabrina explained, ducking as another arrow hissed past her. She then added "In truth, I shouldn't have fun… I'm here to earn extra-credits. You know what though? Let's do this! I'll warn you of enemy attacks."

"Giving up on your responsibilities this soon are we?" Emer chuckled, trying to spur the dragon on the chase of their missing companion. Kane apparently was trying his best to get free from its talons, still yelling about his lost record.

"Bird incoming at three o'clock!" Sabrina shouted.

"What? You mean this afternoon?" Emer asked with a tone of disbelief.

Shard mentally face palmed for Emer's question, unable to process if she was honest or she was attempting a very bad joke. He inhaled deeply, pointed towards the raven, and exclaimed " Fire!" The dragon pointed its head towards it and exhaled a burst of flames.

How a single word could lead to incinerating things wasn't something that Shard was fond of, but he had to do it a couple more times when they found themselves in dangerous spots.

They finally approached the kidnapper from the side and Emer shouted at the top of her lungs," I made it! I made it! I actually flew this thing where I wanted to!"

"What about saving Kane?" Sabrina asked.

"I'm working on it! Give me a few seconds, Kane is not going anywhere," she replied on the defensive.

"Heeeelp!" Kane yelled, as he finally achieved his objective of freeing himself from the raven's grip, only to start his fast descent to the bone-littered ground.

"Right. I'll stop talking actually," Emer mumbled, fiddling with the reins. The dragon shook and unceremoniously opened and closed the wings, starting a dive after the pro rider.

Shard held tightly to Emer as they gained speed and felt Sabrina holding tightly at him as she screamed, leaving no air in his lungs to do it himself. The hills of bones became progressively more detailed as they came closer to splattering on the ground. He couldn't keep his eyes completely open, the air was literally pressing on his face, slapping him repeatedly.

"Woo-hoo! Nice catch Emer! You are officially promoted to my second in command!" a familiar voice said.

Shard looked around. With his half-blinded vision, he saw that Kane had managed to grab the reins once more. The fall transformed into a very fast glide as the dragon opened his wings. It stopped the fall with a very wide parabola and started to flap its wings once again.

"No joking around this time, directly to the exit," Sabrina warned.

"Okay boss, but fighting is a must, I fear," Kane said. Then, as he watched their faces in amusement he added with a smirk" Nobody even welcomed me back, should I get upset?"

"Just use your magic pro touch to get us out of here," Sabrina cut short.

Shard looked up and saw a black cloud of enemies right in front of the exit. He hoped that they would have been able to pass through.

"I knew that you would recognize my skills eventually!" Kane beamed.

"I admit you are useful in getting us out of trouble you drag us into in the first place," Sabrina stated.

The dragon spurred upwards, flapping its wings confidently. "Fire! Fire! Fire!"Kane shouted multiple times, defeating more enemies in a couple of seconds than Shard had defeated during the entirety of the rescue mission.

They passed through the enemy barricade as if it was just a cloud, with fire shooting out of the dragon's mouth when something got in their way.

They got through without a problem and finally could see the exit without straining their sight. Many things happened at the same time. The dragon roared in pain when a black raven attacked it directly with its claws. Emer yelled in surprise as a rain of arrows missed them by mere chance and Kane announced in a joyful shout his new record. They flew through the door, roars and angry caws fading in the distance. Finally, Shard's eyes shot open, taking in the blurry shapes of the real world.

* * *

 **Oooh, I couldn't waste the opportunity of having people riding on a dragon, could I?**

 **I'm not very good with action scenes and I hope this chapter wasn't all that bad… If you want to give me tips on how to improve, share how you felt reading this chapter or even just say hi, you can leave a review or PM me, otherwise, thank you for reading my story till here, it makes me happy. :D**

 **Oh, right. I made a poll on which character you would like to see more of in a one-shot or short story! It's on my profile, be sure to check it out if you are interested.**

 **As always, thank you everyone who favorited, followed, reviewed or even just read my story. See you next week!**


	9. A Talk on Magic

**Author's notes: Hey everyone! Thank you for sticking with this story till chapter 9. It really makes me happy. I decided to change up the summary since we're 9 chapters in, woohoo!**

 **It's not that I didn't like the one I had before… more like, wanting to change it on a whim. Not sure if this one is better. Whether you like it, or hate it, and want to let me know, just tell. I appreciate feedback :D**

 **Oh, right. I also changed the rating to T. It gives me more freedom in fights and it has me less worried overall.**

 **I'll throw a disclaimer now: I do not own Wizard101, nor its characters, only my OCs.**

 **And let's go on with the story!**

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 **Chapter 9 – A Talk on Magic**

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Shard felt a strong force propelling him forward, and found himself being shot out of the tent, landing painfully on the stone pavement. The Fairegrounds came into view, the other three passengers that had been on the dragon's back with him, were now lying on the floor, disoriented. As soon as Shard acknowledged being back in the real world, a well-known caw sent shivers down his spine.

He instantly turned around, his trembling arms the only part of his body that kept him from sprawling motionless on the floor. Emer and Kane, who were closer to the tent, were trying to crawl his way. Behind them, the enormous head of a black raven stuck its head out of the tent, its beak opening and closing as it cawed indignantly.

Shard crawled backwards, frightened by the appearance of one of the illusory enemies of the game in the real world. How was that even possible? If it had been only an illusion, why did it look so real? Questions stirred disorganized in his mind only to be silenced by the thought of running away as fast as possible from the huge bird.

Sabrina stood up, her legs trembling, as she impatiently rummaged inside her purse, throwing on the floor books, empty vials and some small bags containing seeds and soil.

The black raven cawed angrily, clawing its way out of the tent with its sharp talons, tearing the brightly colored fabric down in the process. Shard wanted to tell everyone to run and hide, but he couldn't get the words out of his throat, even so, it would have been kind of superfluous. He couldn't tell if the unresponsiveness of his body was due to his fear or the abrupt interruption of the illusion.

Sabrina exulted in relief as she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a long staff from the purse and prepared herself in a guarded position. "You three stay back. I should be able to handle this," she said, trembling.

Pointing the staff towards the creature, she shot a blast of green magic in its eye. The huge animal aimlessly writhed and cried in pain, its eye dripping a black substance akin to blood. It twisted and turned, attempting to free its wings from the tent.

Kane had managed to get up from the ground and was now helping Emer to slowly get away from the beast, hopefully, they would be able to do so before the creature broke free. Shard focused on his own situation. The legs were utterly useless, his arms trembled and didn't feel like his own. His slow crawl had come to a stop once he realized that he couldn't get far by himself.

The raven managed to get up, carrying the tent with it like a fashionable blue straitjacket for mad birds. its remaining eye slowly shifting on Shard. The darkness of the bird's eye felt familiar. He remembered Greyfell, the cat and his time alone before he had met Emer. He felt lonely and broken, devoid of a purpose. He had a growing suspicion that something important was missing. Something that he had to do. He couldn't tell how long did he stare, but the more he did, the more he understood that the eye was similar to that of the cat. It wanted him to remember something, but what?

A dazzling green explosion interrupted the eye contact and Shard exhaled a deep breath that he didn't know he was holding.

Sabrina started drawing a green leaf symbol in the air with her left hand, keeping her staff pointed towards the crow in concentration. As she was about to complete it, the creature turned abruptly to try and break free from the constricting cloth, its tail feathers sweeping Sabrina down on the pavement, the incomplete symbol shattering in dust and her staff landing far from her reach.

"Charge!" someone shouted as four figures surpassed Shard in a swift run towards the giant raven. The smell of rotten corpses filled the air when those human figures came to their rescue. Shard backed away in fear upon noticing their rotting flesh and tattered clothes, those things seemed to be falling apart as they encircled the monster, brandishing rusty spades.

Some of them hit the bird with their unlikely weapons from the sides, whereas other managed to jump on top of it and started to claw their way in its flesh, emitting creepy growls. One of them attempted to carry Sabrina away, but was left there dumbfounded when the girl erupted in an 'ew' and rolled away in disgust.

The raven tried to fight back, but with three of those things on its back and two hitting its legs, it wasn't able to do much, emitting a last caw before shattering in black dust.

"You are dismissed, my dears," said the voice, just seconds before their unlikely saviors disappeared into black dust themselves. "That was incredibly fun!"

A girl wearing a black robe with red trimmings, was sitting on the dragon mount of the carousel. An amused glint in her black eyes as she looked at them, nonchalantly adjusting a black beret, decorated with a single crow feather, on her head.

"Moira! I was looking for you! Did you find Mr. Stormheart?" Sabrina asked, getting up from the ground and stumbling her way towards the girl called Moira. She seemed to be alright after being swept down on the stone pavement by the huge raven, although a slight green glow encircling her hand, gave away the recent use of healing magic, probably to heal some minor bruises.

"What are the magic words that you have to say when someone saves your life?" Moira asked, curling her black hair around her finger nonchalantly.

"I could have managed by myself!" Sabrina replied, stomping her foot. "There was no reason for you to step in."

"Nice answer. Those words would surely affect the person to let you die next time. So magical," Moira said, cracking a wide smile.

Sabrina snorted with impatience and asked again,"Did you find Malcolm Stormheart?"

Moira shook her head. "He is nowhere to be found, he just disappeared. Poof," she said, imitating the act of disappearance with her hands. "I found these medallions lying around though, they seem to be made with the use of lumina crystals." She showed them a bunch of iron medallions, decorated with many small purple crystals.

"Medallions... with lumina crystals? What happened here is linked to the problems in Triton Avenue? We should tell Susie, " Sabrina reflected out loud. She then walked towards Moira and got hold of one of the jewels, starting a quiet conversation with the black robed girl, probably to avoid being overheard by the novices.

"Are you alright Shard?" Emer asked.

Shard shifted his gaze from the two wizards in deep discussion to his friend, who was extending her hand to help him get up.

"I guess I'm fine," Shard replied, feeling that he could risk getting up on his legs without falling to the ground."For some reason, it's hard to move though."

"Yeah, a side effect of getting out of the game so fast," Kane explained, a bit woobly himself.

After a few minutes of trial and error, with lots of laughs from Kane's part and a couple of falls, Shard was able to stand up again. "You sure recover slowly," Kane commented with a smirk.

"So… no chance we are talking about the fact that we almost died inside that supposedly safe illusion?" Shard asked, his annoyance evident in his voice.

"That was a very bad malfunction," Kane grinned. His smile fell after a few seconds. "It has never happened before and I'm positive that illusions are harmless, but it's true that the raven got out somehow… I wonder what could have happened if… you know, you didn't come to save me."

"Don't worry, What's important is that nobody was hurt in all of this," Emer commented cheerfully, giving an encouraging pat on Kane's shoulder.

The lights Shard and Emer had seen before were nowhere to be seen, and before Shard could even ask about them to Emer, Sabrina told them she wanted to speak with them.

"This is Moira Nightdust, she is an Adept necromancer and part of Ravenwood's student council like me."

Moira waved her hand with a bright smile and addressed Kane," Are you Flint's little Brother by any chance?"

"Yep, do you know him?"

"Sure, Sabrina and I are his teammates, you know?"

"Really?" Kane asked, looking at the two girls in surprise.

Moira smiled and exulted, "Sure, Sabrina will never admit it, but Flint, Nolan and I are her precious teammates she can't do anything without!"

Sabrina ignored her and said, "On more important matters, we need to report all of this to the headmaster. Please follow us to his office."

Following Sabrina, they headed out of the Fairegrounds, down the road to the headmaster's office, and before Shard had been able to sort through the recent happenings, the building was right in front of them.

Moira and Sabrina had fallen back behind, once they found out that the other three knew how to reach the office by themselves, and they had started arguing over something related to the medallions, so it was Emer the one who walked up to the door to knock.

"If you aren't willing to share the information, I'll go to research it myself!" an angry voice shouted from the office.

The door slammed open and Marianne exited the building. The head theurgist stopped in her tracks for a few instants, looking at them wide eyed.

"Hello, Marianne!" Emer said, waving her hand awkwardly.

"Hello Emer, take care... and don't do anything stressful," Marianne replied, giving one last glare into the office, before marching away.

 _Oh, if only she knew_ , Shard thought.

Moira sighed. "Even the head theurgist is going insane today. We'll probably be busy all day with problems."

"Well, at least you won't have any lessons anytime soon," Sabrina stated.

"Thank you for reminding me that my teacher is a dangerous psychopath that might destroy us any moment now."

"No problem Moira. It's my job."

Ambrose's voice was heard coming from the open door, inviting them to enter. The office was exactly how Shard remembered it from the last time he had been there, even though this time, the huge piles of books were scattered in an even more chaotic way if that was even possible. The headmaster sat behind his desk, wearing an extremely tired expression, which alarmingly seemed to fit him just as well as his wizard robes. He was scribbling neat lines of text on an official-looking document.

It took a few seconds for his gaze to lift upwards, but when it did, the composure in his eyes was unshaken. "Welcome all of you, young wizards. Things are disorderly around here since Malistaire's last visit, please do not mind it." He took his staff, and with a little wave, five chairs appeared in front of the desk for them to sit. "Were you able to find Malcolm? His presence is needed at the Golem Tower. He can surely find the time to fix the Fairegrounds later this year."

"Actually, no. He wasn't at the Fairegrounds," Sabrina said.

"Troubling indeed, do you perhaps know where he went?" asked Ambrose, joining his hands with a frown.

"Can we speak about it… you know? With them in the room?" Sabrina questioned, pointing to Kane, Emer, and Shard.

Ambrose looked like he hesitated for an instant, but then nodded. "Of course. Wizard City might be in trouble and I am not planning to hide it. We will need all the help we can muster against such a chaotic foe."

"I see. Well, there were traces of a clash, and a serious one at that," Moira began.

"Yeah, there was still a lot of mana lingering around when we arrived, and we also found a bunch of these," Sabrina added, giving one of the medallions to the headmaster.

Ambrose looked at them closely and whispered a few incomprehensible words. He then placed them on the desk and said,"That explains why they stole lumina crystals. I will need time to examine these, but in the meantime, I will need you to share every detail on what happened at the Fairegrounds."

Moira and Sabrina started to explain. They told Ambrose about how they arrived at the Fairegrounds and the weird concentration of mana they had seen, they told everything about their attempts at looking for clues and how Sabrina ended up stuck in one of the games. Moira recounted how she stumbled upon a similar predicament in another game, but she had managed to break free just moments before Sabrina did.

Ambrose turned to Shard, Emer, and Kane, and asked why did they found themselves involved in such matters. Kane did most of the talking, even though Emer added in things here and there whenever she thought something was missing, like her and Shard's ability to see the blue floating spheres and how inside of them, creatures were fighting among themselves.

"You two are able to read mana traces without having attended a single lesson?" Moira whistled.

"What do you mean with that?" Emer asked.

"It's something that you will soon learn in class. What has happened at the Fairegrounds is far more important at the moment," Ambrose said, encouraging them to continue.

Shard found himself struggling. He wanted to tell Ambrose what he had seen, but somehow he also wanted to distance himself from it all. He gritted his teeth as the last traces of fear were replaced by anger. Emer had been reckless. She had literally decided to jump into the first random death game she could find. She couldn't continue to say magic was nice and amazing after what had happened.

No word came out of his mouth as everyone else recounted the events that occurred inside the tent. They didn't leave out anything, ending their story with how Moira had been able to deal with the giant raven by summoning her ghouls.

Ambrose didn't give any sign of surprise, but the slight furrow of the headmaster's brow was a clear indicator that what had happened did, in fact, concern him greatly. Did he know something that could link together all of that nonsense? If so, was he going to tell them? Shard was still doubtful of the old man, even though a part of him was glad that he hadn't been forgotten by him, proof of it, the chair on which he was sitting.

"What happened at the Fairegrounds was with no doubt Malistaire's doing. He is planning something big nonetheless, and the abduction of Malcolm Stormheart might be only the beginning."

Kane stood up as if an electric current went through his body, and said, "We should look for him! I mean… he is Alex's uncle! Isn't his research important for the city or something?"

"I fear that there is not much we can do at the moment. I will head to the City Council soon, and inform everyone of the recent happenings. Perhaps your father will tell you more after we are finished with the discussion. It is important to keep in mind that the foe we face is an extremely powerful wizard, he won't let us find his hostage easily by any means."

Kane nodded slightly, apparently convinced that there wasn't much he could do.

"Excuse me for bothering you, Headmaster Ambrose, but there is something that I would like to know. Why was a monster summoned out of the Skull Riders game? And why did it activate randomly in the first place? I know the tents were under maintenance, but well… I don't think what has happened was normal." Sabrina said.

"That is an interesting question indeed, and I can only guess the answer myself," Ambrose replied.

"I am of the idea that three different, powerful sources of magic clashed in the area. As you know, the magic that makes the Fairegrounds conjure up that particular kind of illusion is a mix of Storm and Myth magic. Those two do not interact directly with each other when everything works properly, but in this particular instance, Death magic is involved."

Ambrose lifted up the medallion for them to see. "These medallions have been affected greatly by Death magic, making Storm and Death work together forcefully. Forcing sources of magic to cooperate together in the same spell is never easy, and when the process is half-baked, it can upset the balance of the natural flow of mana. What magic still lingered around after Mr. Stormheart was kidnapped, was greatly unstable, causing unpredictable things to happen, such as having the illusion start by itself. The mana wisps you saw, were nothing more than echoes of the battle that had been fought there."

Shard didn't get most of the explanation, but when the headmaster was talking about unstable magic, he found himself nodding without understanding the reason.

"So… The games activated because the spells reacted to the medallions? That doesn't explain the giant raven though," Sabrina said.

Ambrose looked towards Moira and asked, "Young wizard, would you be so kind as to tell everyone from where Death magic draws its power?"

Moira widened her eyes in surprise." Oh, so that's how it happened. The fear of those trapped in the game gave enough power to the illusion to appear outside of the tent?"

"That is almost correct. You have left out something important, however. The schools of magic have their own way to interact with other schools. In this instance, we had Myth, known for imagination, Storm, an elemental magic which through creativity brings forth the countless possibilities of reality, and Death, a kind of magic which brings forth chaos by drawing upon fear. Do you understand how this is a dangerous matchup if left unchecked?" Ambrose said.

"I definitely do. An extremely terrifying and wild nightmare that can be brought to reality. I am surprised that it was only a huge bird. Is someone afraid of ravens?" Moira asked, looking around aimlessly.

"Perhaps there is a reason for it being a raven after all," Ambrose muttered. Shard could have sworn that when he had said it, he had looked directly at him."You are free to go. Get a nice rest, Tomorrow is the start of term after all."

Shard hesitated and thought, _should I speak now?_

The cat had been there, and had looked at him. Maybe Ambrose knew why. Had it really happened though? With all of this talk about dreams and such, he couldn't tell when he had actually entered the illusion.

In the end, he left without uttering a word.

A man had been kidnapped by Malistaire, Kane seemed to be troubled by it, as were the other two adept girls. Shard didn't know who the man was, except for the fact that he was Alex's uncle. He was sure that there was more to it though.

Ambrose was sincerely worried by how the events were unfolding, and Shard was sure that the Fairegrounds wasn't a place that would be attacked by an evil wizard. Was Malistaire after Malcolm Stormheart? From what little did he know, he was important in some way. Maybe he should do some research and ask around. He didn't like to be kept in the dark, and everything was heading in a far more dangerous direction than he had imagined at first.

Emer might not be willing to listen to him, but he wanted to be prepared at least. With those thoughts in mind, Shard followed his friends out of the Headmaster's office into the commons. He stopped in his tracks and looked at the lake, the hurricane of thoughts that were drifting in his head didn't cease to wreak havoc.

Kane turned towards him. He must have seen Shard's upset face, because he said, "I guess we've had enough adventures for today. What do you think of having lunch in Unicorn Park? My mum prepared lots of sandwiches!"

Shard nodded, mainly because he didn't want to talk, and mainly because it seemed Kane wasn't taking them anywhere else dangerous for the time being. Before he could realize it, they were walking down a tunnel, into an area of Wizard City in which he had never set foot in: Unicorn Way.

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 **And this is all for now. As always I hope you liked it, and thank you everyone who follows, favorits, reviews or just reads this story. If you spot errors be it in the plot, character interactions or some awful grammar, don't be afraid to point them out, I really want to improve :)**

 **I wish you a fantastic day, and see you next week!**


	10. A Distant Song

**Author's notes: Sorry for keeping you waiting. I did promise to have this chapter posted last week, but I had quite a bit to think about these days and couldn't write anything at all. Here is the chapter though, It's written in what little time I had. I really hope you'll enjoy it :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

* * *

 **Chapter 10 – A Distant Song**

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The huge statue of a unicorn standing on its two hind legs towered in the centre of a square, its horn pointed upwards to the blue sky. Six small hedges bordered the circular path encircling the statue, behind them, a very well kept lawn full of colorful flowers which gave off pleasant smells. Two bridges connected the square to the rest of the street, passing over the calm river that isolated it from everything else.

"You were amazing back there, Emer, riding the dragon to the rescue," Kane said.

"It was amazing I managed to pull it off! I had absolutely no idea of what I was doing." Emer laughed it off.

Under the shadow of the tree, the breeze was pleasant. Shard, Kane, and Emer were lying on the grass, the first deadly silent, while the other two were having a chat on the incident at the Fairegrounds. Few sandwiches remained from their lunch and, all of them, were stuffed in a lunch-box near Kane's bag. In the background, the occasional fluttering of wings, gave away the presence of fairies and sprites, who were carrying leaves, fruits or berries, amassing them in small baskets.

"It was a very nice adventure! Well... aside from the kidnapping and all that," Kane said.

Emer waited a bit and then replied, "I guess it was. By the way, Ambrose mentioned your father, what's his job?"

"He is part of the city council, boring stuff. Mostly talking about protecting the city. With Malistaire on the run, he has lots of work recently."

"I see… Well, let's avoid thinking about mad, dangerous wizards for a while," Emer offered.

"Yeah, this grass sure is comfy. I'm probably going to close my eyes for a little while."

 _How can they shrug it off so easily?!_ Shard thought, his hand pulling a single blade of grass out of the ground in anger.

Neither Kane nor Emer seemed to have understood completely how dangerous it had been. He didn't say anything. His mind occupied with all those strange occurrences. The vision of flames and a huge dragon made him anxious, he had never seen anything like that before. Those screams seemed to be resonating into his very soul.

The black cat. He might have understood its role. Two times he had seen it up close, and in both instances, Malistaire had been up to something. There might have been a connection.

He thought long and hard about it, but his lack of information on how magic worked, limited his guesses. Soon he found himself staring at the sky, Kane's soft and regular snores reaching his ears. The Fireblade-boy had fallen asleep two minutes after he had stopped talking.

"What are you thinking about?" Emer asked.

"I think that your efforts to try and get hurt are admirable," Shard replied coldly.

He couldn't forget that she had decided to ignore common sense. He expected something like that out of Kane, not her.

"Tell me then, should I have left Sabrina all alone while we looked for help?"

"No, We could have made a run for Ambrose's office or something…"

Emer sat up and looked at him. "You could have gone to look for help yourself when I told you to wait if you felt it was too dangerous, why didn't you do it?"

"Um…" Shard hesitated. _Because I wasn't sure I could find help!_ he desperately thought.

His voice failed him, and he decided to keep staring up, ignoring Emer. How could he tell her that he didn't trust the people of Wizard City? Kane was sleeping just beside him, and he was one of them too. Shard didn't want to admit that he wasn't giving the city a chance. Would that have meant going against his promise?

"You see? No reason not to. Haven't you been reckless yourself? We both made a mistake," she concluded.

Shard shot up in a sitting position to glare at her. "That's different! You might have been in danger! Magic is dangerous and the faire was malfunctioning... You were heading towards dangerous malfunctioning magic!"

Emer looked at him in surprise as he continued his rant,"You keep on saying that magic is nice. That I should give it a chance. All I see is that it does damage and you keep trying to sweep it under the rug. Emer, people fight with it and use it for kidnappings! Portals injure those who go through them and supposedly safe illusions, try to kill people! It breaks friends apart! It breaks things…" He felt his eyes wet and wiped them with his sleeve, looking at his friend as he breathed hard, suddenly not sure himself of what he was talking about.

"Shard, I know that… and I'm not trying to hide it or anything, but I want you to see also the good things that it can do."

"Like what?"

"Like this." She pointed down to the other side of Unicorn Park, more precisely, to the many fairies flying around. They buzzed and sang as they sprinkled shiny dust on flowers and plants. The green color of whatever the dust touched became more vivid and lively. Shard's eyes seemed to widen by themselves to take it all in. Dry plants straightened up and bloomed, fruits and berries grew in mere minutes from trees and bushes. It was a wonderful show. Even Shard could admit it, magic wasn't being used to harm people in that very instant. Why was he seeing it only after Emer had pointed it out?

"Now close your eyes," Emer said.

"Why?" Shard asked, engrossed in what the fairies were doing.

"Just do it," she rolled her eyes, before placing her hands on Shard's face, successfully preventing him from seeing anything more. "What do you hear?"

"Um… Your voice?"

"Apart from that obviously! There is much more than that."

Shard did as he was told."Fairies singing?"

"Yeah, but that is not the only thing. Name as much as possible."

"Kane snoring, my voice, water flowing, rustle of leaves, birds, flutter of wings… a song."

The sound of the melody was barely audible. It seemed to vibrate just outside his ear, escaping his senses. It was the most beautiful song he had ever heard and he longed to hear more of its notes. They were impossible to grasp. Their meaning, unknown. There was no doubt that it was magical, but it was completely different to what Shard identified as magic. It didn't divide, it didn't break, it merely held the pieces together.

"Do you hear it?" Emer asked, removing her hands.

"Yes… I do get it now. That's how you see magic…"

"It obviously doesn't make what you said wrong. I know how destructive magic can be… There is another way to use it though, don't you think it too?"

"There might be." Shard conceded, falling in deep thought.

Maybe he was approaching everything from the wrong side. There was no way he could accept living with wizards in a magical school without accepting magic. A few seconds was all it took for him to decide. He was giving magic a chance, for real this time.

"Wow, he sure is a heavy sleeper. No sign of waking up even in the middle of an argument," Emer giggled pointing at Kane.

"Yeah, he sure is," Shard agreed. He looked at his new friend with the hint of a smile. There was something about him, something familiar now that he thought about it.

The burning city and the screams continued to glare at him from the back of his mind as he tried to relax in the peaceful park. That vision felt important, but he didn't want to remember the details, it was painful.

Emer couldn't be kept completely in the dark though, so he decided to tell her, "There something I have to tell you, Emer."

"What Is it?" she asked, shifting her gaze away from Kane.

"I saw the black cat before entering the game. It…" He wanted to say that it sent him a vision, but for some reason, the words wouldn't come out.

"You saw it again?!"

"Yes, it appeared out of nowhere."

"Hmm, do you think we should tell Ambrose? Maybe it's important."

"I'm not sure if it is. I think it has a connection with Malistaire, but I don't think getting the headmaster involved is a good idea at the moment."

Emer tilted her head and asked, " Why? He's very nice and he probably can help, not to mention he is working hard to defeat this Malistaire guy."

"He is… But I feel like he is on guard whenever I am around, and is constantly hiding things from us. I wasn't even meant to be here in the first place, remember?" Shard replied, lowering his gaze to stare intensely to a small flower, faking interest. "If we discover something important, we'll tell him though."

"I think you are just being paranoid, but I guess we can keep it from him for a little while. Maybe if we ask around, we can get onto something and even discover what he's keeping from us," Emer concluded.

"Alright," Shard said.

Looking at the fairies, he pushed back the vision of the burning city with all his might. There was no use in having Emer worry more than it was necessary. The day was too nice to linger on those screams, or so he wanted to desperately think. Once the night-time came, he was sure nightmares would follow. Tomorrow was his first day of school, better be ready for it.

* * *

 **This one was a pretty short chapter compared to the others, but I think it was needed as a conclusion of the pre-Ravenwood bunch of chapters. Next one will be on the first day of school, and there will be a focus on the various branches of magic as well as on the professors… and a bit of a surprise I guess.**

 **It needs time though, there is lots of planning left to do, and I wanted to finish writing 'Seeking Magic' before continuing with this story. It won't take long and will be worth it, I promise! In the meantime, your support is greatly appreciated and well… see you next time!**


	11. The First Day of School

**Hello there! Now that 'Seeking Magic' is finished, I can focus back on the main story.**

 **For all of you who want to read more FoaW, you can treat SM as a side story to FoaW. They happen in the same universe and eventually converge. Note that it is not required to read it to understand what happens in FoaW, but it might result in a more complete experience from my p.o.v. (The same difference as in being told a story and actually experiencing it.)**

 **I thank everyone who follows, favs, reviews or even just reads the story. (I'm glad you like FoaW, Iron-ninja ^_^)**

 **I'm trying hard to make the writing the best I can, and I'm sorry for errors I couldn't spot. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.**

 **I usually don't do this, but I wish to dedicate this chapter to my friends Joe and Gh0st, who make the Spiral twice more magical.**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor, its characters, only my OCs.**

 **And now, let's finally continue this story, shall we? :D**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 11 -The First day of school**_

* * *

There was a large crowd in front of the huge tree which grew in the centre of campus. Most of the people were waiting patiently on the side of the square, dressed in colorful clothes, whereas many young boys and girls stood right in the centre, sporting immaculate white robes while happily chatting among themselves. Nervous glances were sent to Ravenwood's faculty members, who were the closest to the tree's trunk, their very forms, seemingly radiating raw magical power.

Emer squeezed Shard's hand in excitement as she looked at everything wide eyed, small giggles escaping from her lips in the joyous atmosphere. Shard himself couldn't believe it had just been yesterday when they had almost been killed by a huge, scary raven. He squeezed her hand back, cracking a faint smile and pushing his discomfort to the side.

After their talk at Unicorn Park, he had finally decided to learn more about magical stuff. His line of thinking was that it would have been the best way he could deal with the new reality. Either he came to terms with all the craziness going around, or he would be jumping off the floating city screaming like a madman soon.

He still felt uncomfortable around magic, though the fear had indeed dimmed since his arrival. Maybe he had managed to convince himself that magic was as dangerous as who wielded it, or maybe knowing that he could rely on both Emer and Kane, as he did during the Fairegrounds incident, magic seemed far less menacing.

In fact, the thought of going back to Greyfell was something that he wasn't willing to do anymore. Wizard City, despite its ridiculous dependance on magic, had people that didn't forget about him. That alone was the main reason for Shard's desperate attempts at overcoming his fears.

"Come on, let's go to the centre with the others!" exclaimed Emer, dragging him to the outskirts of the white crowd.

Glancing around to the other novices, and back to her white robe, Emer said in a whisper,"I like these white robes. Do you like them too?"

"Um…" Shard hesitated, looking at his own white robes. They stood out a little bit too much for his likings, even though, now that they were part of a crowd all dressed in the same colors, he didn't really mind them.

"I don't really like this hat though," Emer continued, taking off her pointed wizard hat. On that statement, he agreed, it felt way too impractical.

Emer didn't seem satisfied by Shard's half-hearted answers, putting her hat in front of her mouth, and pretending that it was a megaphone."Wizard City to Shard! Wizard City to Shard! Are you coming back to our world? Hmm?"

He merely took his own hat from his head and placed it on hers, covering her eyes just to spite her. Emer's happiness was contagious. She was looking forward to learning magic stuff at Ravenwood, and maybe, deep inside, Shard was looking forward to it too.

With a huff, Emer took the hat from her head, muttering that it surely was something that she rather not wear at all. She gave it back to Shard as soon as possible, so as to avoid carrying two of those she referred as 'white street cones'.

Shard's gaze wandered off, shifting its focus from Emer to the tree, whose single eye was looking at all the students gathered under its branches and whose mouth bore what looked like the hint of a smile. That was Bartleby, the Grandfather Tree. Shard had passed in front of him many times without ever noticing the face on the bark, nor had he been aware before of the magical aura he gave off. Standing under the primordial being's branches, the boy could feel the warm spark of life and the faint flow of magic filtering through his leaves.

After he had heard that song, he seemed to have gained a clearer view of what was around him, or maybe it had happened right after the Fairgrounds' incident, he couldn't really tell. Everything had a purpose, everything had a reason, the song itself implied that. Even Shard finding himself at Ravenwood was part of it, and this, somehow was comforting in its own way.

The day seemed to have started quite well for once, the only thing that ruined the mood were those images lurking at the back of his mind. The burning city and the huge dragon. Every time he recalled them, Shard shuddered, his mood dropping instantly taking a deep dive to sadness. Shaking his head, he told himself what he had been telling himself every time that image resurfaced; he had lived on Greyfell his whole life, there was no burning city in his past.

 _I would definitely know that, right?_ That single thought settled it.

"Look, it's Kane!" Emer exclaimed, shaking Shard off from his mental ramblings. "Kane we're here!" she shouted, waving her arm and jumping to catch the boy's the attention.

Kane scanned the crowd for a few seconds and finally found them, running towards them with a wide smile."Ready to start school?"

"As ready as I can be!" Emer chuckled.

Shard rolled his eyes. "Why are you so happy? We'll have to study a lot! And now that I think of it, I have never seen you that happy the first day of school on Greyfell…"

"You're joking, right? This isn't the same thing! It'll be much more fun! We'll cast spells!" Emer replied, her eyes sparkling.

"If you say so…"

They waited ten minutes before Ambrose stepped in front of the other professors. Everyone went silent as the Headmaster cleared his throat, "Welcome to a new year at Ravenwood's school of magical arts. As you may already know, this year started in a rather unfavorable situation. The Death school has disappeared without a trace, and Dworgyn, who should have replaced Malistaire Drake as the Death Professor, disappeared with it. For those of you who wish to go down the path of Death magic, Malorn Ashthorn, a brilliant adept necromancer, has offered to teach the novices and initiates. We are working to find a replacement for the Death professor at this very moment."

The crowd murmured in agitation while Ambrose continued on, "Difficult times lie ahead of us with Malistaire free to roam the Spiral. We do not know his motives, nor how far he will go to achieve them, but Ravenwood itself will be ready to intervene. I warmly recommend you all to study and prepare yourselves, for when dark times come, Ravenwood will need all the help it can muster."

Shard didn't sound too convinced by those words. Did it mean that they would be sent into battle?

When he whispered his concerns to Emer, another girl suddenly broke into the conversation "Oh, that might happen, Ravenwood has pretty clear objectives."

Shard glanced in the direction of the girl who had spoken and was greeted by a small wave of her hand, "My name's Rose, nice to meet you. I'm a novice too."

Shard nodded and introduced himself, Kane, and Emer in low whispers, so as to not disturb the headmaster's speech. She glanced at them with her light brown eyes, her hand stubbornly kept in her pocket as the other played with a chunk of her blonde hair.

"What did you mean by that?" Shard asked. No answer came. Ambrose had continued on talking, giving basic instructions on classes, and Rose was paying him her undivided attention.

The apprentices and initiates were told to go to their school classes, except for Storm students, who had to do some practice in the arena with none other than Diego, the infamous unicorn Duelmaster. The upper ranked students were told to follow Ambrose to golem tower for some very important information, supposedly on how to defend the city against Malistaire's threat. As for the novices, the very first rank of a Ravenwood student, they would have to follow Halston Balestrom to the Storm Tower.

"Might you all have another wonderful year at Ravenwood," Ambrose said, dismissing everyone and making his way to the Commons, followed by a bunch of students. Among them, Shard noticed Moira and Sabrina, who were whispering something to each other in what appeared to be a heated argument.

Shard let himself be carried away with the flow of novices that went after professor Balestrom, a small frog wearing a top hat and a suit, who jumped and talked in loud enthusiastic tones. Emer and Kane eventually left Shard behind, their excitement way to great to walk at his slow pace. In no time, he found himself at the far end of the group, Rose next to him.

Shard waited for her to tell him something more about Ravenwood, but she didn't seem to want to explain her previous statement. He sighed and decided to ask again,"So… what is Ravenwood's objective? You didn't say anything more about it."

Rose eyed him quizzically for an instant, and then said, "Oh, I forgot I told you that." With a frown and moving both her hands to her pocket as if to restrain a wild beast from getting out, she said, " Shut up! I am trying to make friends here!"

Shard eyed her suspiciously, his face probably mirroring his incapability of understanding why she had said something like that out of the blue. Rose looked back at him and seemed to notice, "Oh, not you Shard! Sorry for that. I… was speaking to someone else."

"In your pocket?" Shard deadpanned.

"Right… not important right now," she blushed. "What I was trying to say, was that Ravenwood was founded by Merle Ambrose long ago, in hopes of protecting Bartleby, the Grandfather Tree."

Shard's eyes made their way to the huge tree and wondered why was it that important to build a whole city around it for protection. He didn't have time to ask, since Professor Balestrom stopped in front of the tower, opened the door and signed them to enter with a loud,"Welcome to the Storm Tower!"

The room inside the tower was spacious, even more so than what it looked like on the outside. Every building in Wizard City seemed to follow that rule, using to the fullest the convenience of magic to offer much more spacious environments. The professor's desk was across the room, and behind it, a big portrait of the Storm professor. The rest of the room was littered with small round tables and wooden chairs, in a seemingly disordered fashion. A huge symbol was engraved on the floor, giving off a feeble blueish light, and a basin, filled to the brim with a purple bubbling liquid, was placed on top of it.

After a quick glance around the place to find a nice spot, Shard seated down with Kane and Emer. Shortly after, Rose tagged along. Judging from how she had paused to look at the surroundings, she had decided that since they had already introduced, they might as well share the table.

"Welcome to the school of Storm, also known as Divination! For those who have chosen to master this magic are known as Diviners. I am professor Halston Balestrom, Master Inventor! Oh yes, and Professor of Storm magic," Professor Balestrom said.

Shard had the growing suspicion that the Professor had used the same lines for years every time he introduced himself to the class.

"You might have already noticed the basin at the centre of the room. Don't worry, it's not dangerous. You might want to avoid touching it though, it is charged with the power of Storm after all."

Most of the students watched apprehensively the liquid inside the basin,which sparked and flickered with powerful electricity as if to prove its dangeroussness. Shard decided to drag the chair backwards by a few centimeters for good measure, and a quick glancearound, comfirmed that others did too. Some people seemed to lean forward to look at it with great interest though, and among them, was Alex Stormheart.

Alex looked paler than Shard had last seen him. Two dark circles below his eyes betrayed his sleepless night and the permanent frown stuck on his face, was a clear sign of how troubled he was.

Shard pitied him, it was his uncle who had been kidnapped after all. He thought about talking to him about it, but he concluded that he wouldn't want to talk to him. Shard could see clearly that he wasn't liked by the white haired boy for some reason he couldn't yet discern.

Professor Balestrom started taking the attendance, or to be more accurate, started shouting names enthusiastically, while students jumped in reaction to his loud tone. Shard wondered what it would be like to have the professor asking random things to random people during class, and pictured an image of students bolting upright as their names were mercilessly thrown out in loud tones, trying to come up with an answer before the impatient professor changed his target.

"Fireblade Kane!" The professor said, and Kane shot his hand in the air.

"Green Rosemary!" Rose waved her arm with a forced smile, blushing when she got some attention.

Shard could have sworn to have heard her mutter, "My parents sure threw me a low blow with my name."

Professor Balestrom continued on, getting all the way down to Shard and Emer. Shard didn't have a surname and Emer had decided to avoid using the one she had on Greyfell, a decision which Ambrose had decided was hers and hers alone. New world, new life. Other students seemed to have had the same idea regardless, resulting in quite a few people without surnames, making them not much of an oddity.

Taking it into consideration, it came with no surprise that Professor Balestrom, merely called them by the first name, but still Shard couldn't avoid some people gazing at him with small, amused smirks on their faces. His name, after all, was quite unusual even for Wizard City's standards.

Finally came Alex's turn and he slowly brought up his hand, letting his presence be known. He didn't look very keen on doing so and his mind was probably somewhere else.

Once the attendance was taken, the lesson began without further delay.

"How are Storm students supposed to take notes? He talks really fast!" Kane whispered.

"Simple, they either take notes very fast or they're done for," Emer replied tensely.

She didn't even finish talking that Kane was already looking in all directions, his attention shifting to Alex once more and wondering out loud, "Do you think he's okay?"

Emer, among one scribble and another, replied, "Well, he got his uncle kidnapped yesterday. I don't think he is."

"Wait a second, a man was kidnapped?!" Rose whispered, wide eyed.

The three of them did her best to try and explain the situation to Rose, in small whispers, as they shifted the attention from their talk to the professor in quick intervals, so as to not lose track of what Balestrom was talking about. It wasn't really all that difficult to pay attention during class, the Professor's voice could cover even a bomb going off,once he had started talking about his inventions, and whether they liked it or not, they heard every single word of it.

Once Rose was filled in with what had happened, she turned her focus back to the lesson and started taking notes frantically as soon as Balestrom started to actually talk about Storm magic, almost as a last thought compared to his marvelous inventions.

Two endless hours and the lesson ended. Shard's brain was exploding with formulas, numbers and magical laws that applied to Storm Magic, and finally, he could enjoy some well-deserved silence.

"I didn't understand a thing," Emer commented, her face, that of whom had just seen horrible things happening in front of them. "Can I look at your notes Rose? Please."

"Sure," Rose replied, handing her notebook.

Emer opened it and shook her head, "I can't understand what you have written. It's so confusing! The formulas go all over the place!" Emer exclaimed, turning the notebook upside down in hopes of getting some kind of revelation.

"Good to know. I got barely something out of it too," Rose confessed, getting the notebook back. "Luckily the first lessons are more of a general introduction, nothing that will be truly important later on… I mean, he started talking about magical engines at one point! I'm sure he'd slow down once he gets actual Diviners in class…"

"Let's hope... Oh, we shouldn't be late for Myth, I heard terrible things about the professor," Emer said, getting up and picking her bag up.

Shard followed suit and glanced at Kane, who was looking down on a blank parchment with his hands still fixed on his ears. "Are you coming too, Kane?"

Kane lifted his teary red eyes and muttered in a mind-blowing revelation "Storm is like Maths… Maths that is able to kill people!"

Shard couldn't even begin to stress out how foreboding that sounded.

* * *

 _ **Fragment of a Wish**_

* * *

"Do not speak and read the first ten chapters, please, and if you do finish, do not make any noise if you aren't willing to be expelled here and now," Professor Drake said, barely shifting his gaze from the huge tome he was reading.

The Myth tower was not so different from the Storm one, if it weren't for the many Myth banners and shields attached to the walls, Shard probably would have had a bit of trouble telling which school it belonged to, not yet familiar with the various school's color patterns. There was a similar basin to the Storm one as well, but this time the liquid in it was of a golden color, with bubbles releasing a thin mist as they popped out of existence.

Shard decided not to argue with the professor, who had hardly introduced himself as Cyrus Drake, saying a couple of words on how Myth magic was about imagination and that they couldn't even hope to have enough of it to study his subject.

The tower was utterly silent if it weren't for the bored sighs of students or the sound of pages being turned. The book, 'History of the Spiral' was extremely detailed. Huge walls of text, covered the pages, describing the Spiral's creation, the most influential worlds, and an extremely detailed recount of Wizard City's foundation.

As he read the book, be it because of how tired he felt after Storm or be it some side effects of the mist, who had soon enough filled the whole classroom, Shard's mind began to wander. It out of the classroom, out of the world, in a place that was long forgotten.

His eyelids felt increasingly heavy, slowly blinking to keep the tiredeness at bay as vivid images of legendary creatures were born from the dry ink on the pages.

The passage talked about the war of the Titans and how the song of creation had avoided the disaster of the first world. The text was extremely vague, but Shard's imagination began to thrive on what wasn't told, filling the gaps and pieces with a story of his own.

Tiny versions of the Dragons, the Tritons, and the Giants, fought long and hard on the brink of his consciousness. They wandered around the room, jumping on top of the heads of clueless students, making them their own pawns in a war that had ended long ago and didn't matter anymore. They took up arms and roared at each other in challenge, preparing once and for all to end the ageless struggle.

"Professor, Do you really think the spiral was formed from the fragments of the first world in the aftermath of the Titan war? I mean, we don't even know why they were fighting in the first place... How do wizards even know about it?" Rose asked, her voice bringing Shard back to reality.

Professor Drake looked down on his register shaking his head. "What did I tell you about making noises, Rosemary Green?"

Rose puffed her cheeks in anger and replied, "I am not making noises. I am asking questions."

"I see. Well, as much as I would love to teach you," Professor Drake began. "You have to understand that Myth, doesn't dwell on facts, but in legends and lore. I can't teach you anything if you do not follow my rules. Now, sit down and let me finish my research."

Rosemary sat down with evident disbelief on her face and whispered, "This isn't how you do a lesson. Look! People are sleeping."

Shard looked around and saw that it was indeed true. Most people had their head on the table, snoring, Kane one of the first to join the fray.

"Maybe he doesn't care whether people learn anything or not? I mean… Balestrom didn't actually go to great lengths to make us understand anything at all…" Shard commented.

"Oh well, I guess we can take a nap too," Emer offered.

Rosemary glared at the professor and replied, "Yeah, I guess it won't hurt."

* * *

 _ **Fragment of a Wish**_

* * *

After class, the four of them had lunch in the cafeteria. Nobody was taken by surprise by the flying plates that came out of the kitchen, landing without dropping even a single bite of food directly in front of who ordered them.

Shard remembered his first experience with those things and how scared he had felt back then. It had happened during the very first few days, when he still hyperventilated and got nausea every time he saw something out of the ordinary. Before he eventually overcame those feelings, he couldn't even bring himself to eat, paralyzed by the terror of those flying plates and all the dangers that lurked inside Ravenwood's kitchens. Being afraid of flying cutlery was silly, he admitted it himself, but he couldn't exactly will himself to not be afraid.

After examining the rice on the plate thoroughly, he slowly started eating. Luckily, he had been able to do so without feeling sick in the last few days. He hoped that he could eventually become completely used to magic, going to a magic school and all that.

"So, what do we have next? I hope it's something more interesting than Myth," Emer asked, enjoying her food with gusto.

"Maybe it's fire!" attempted Kane, demonstrating a good amount of wishful thinking.

Rose shook her head and said, "Nah, I think it's either Life or Death. I asked around, and usually, Life and Death are on different days, and since we have today and tomorrow for the traditional 'Meet the Professors' I am quite sure that it is one of those two." She stopped talking, looking at the three of them, who were eager to know more.

"Do you know why they take us around to meet the professors?" Emer asked.

"Well, yeah, I have tried to come here as prepared as possible. Do you mean that you are doing this without knowing anything at all?"

The three of them nodded. Rose didn't talk for a few seconds, then took out the 'History of the Spiral' textbook and started to turn the pages. "Here, look," she said, placing the voluminous tome in the middle of the table.

Shard leaned forward to see and the many paragraphs of the book entered his field of vision. Kane groaned in frustration, "Can you please do a summary?"

Rose seemed taken aback by such a request, and replied, "Oh… I mean, sure." She retrieved her book and started explaining, "This is a tradition as old as Ravenwood itself. To help students choose their school, they will have a mock-lesson with each of the professors. Back then, novices chose their school themselves after they experienced each type of magic."

She paused as if trying to find the right words to explain it to them, "Recently, though… well not so recently, we're talking about a few centuries, I guess... Ambrose has devised a new way to sort students in their school. It's called the Book of Secrets, and um… well, it's a magical book. He did so to avoid a pretty big problem as some students chose a school that was wrong for them, becoming failures as wizards."

"This problem occurred because it is the school that actually gets to choose you and not in reverse," she said, turning a page. " This was fixed with the invention of the book of secrets though. It is imbued with a very complex spell, one that can look right into a person's very soul, telling without ever falling in error, which school the wizard will excel in. As things are now, the test is compulsory."

"Wouldn't that coerce people in a school that they actually do not like? You could be a genius Storm wizard, but you might hate the subject," Shard commented, not sure about the validity of the system at all.

"True, but then Wizard City's primary role is to protect Bartleby, so it needs top wizards for the job."

"So we are having lessons with all of the professors just because of tradition?" Emer asked.

Rose thought about it, staring into the distance," Yes and no. By doing so, we are exposed to different kinds of magic before the sorting. It seems that it will help the Book of Secrets decide. You have to keep in mind that not everyone has been exposed to magic for all their life. Take me for example, in Marleybone few people practice it."

Switching to a more loud and angry tone she devolved in a small rant,"That does not mean that professors should actively avoid explaining anything at all! At least Balestrom said all that stuff to impress us, letting have a good understanding of Storm's capabilities!"

"Rose, you are a walking encyclopedia. You literally know everything," Kane commented.

"Yeah, unlike somebody who grew up here and knows nothing about pretty much anything," Emer replied, earning a mighty scowl from Kane, and answering to it by jokingly sticking her tongue out.

"I guess it might seem that way... I was a bit obsessed over magic and Ravenwood back home..." Rose stated with a nervous laugh.

The rest of lunch passed with them talking about which school they most likely would end up sheer amount of knowledge that Rose knew about Ravenwood, helped them greatly. They all agreed that Kane would be Fire, lest he throw a tantrum of cosmic proportions, but the rest of them, didn't really manage to narrow down their aptitudes.

The next lesson was Life, taught by Moolinda Wu, a caring cow, idolized by some students for reasons unknown. It was far more enjoyable than the first two lessons they had before it, even though holding hands and singing in chorus around the Life basin wasn't what Shard associated with a lesson.

The only real problem that came up, was how mostly everyone was terribly off-key. Emer had enjoyed singning very much though, and it took Shard's, Rose's and Kane's combined efforts to drag her out of the class and stop her solo performance once and for all.

* * *

 _ **Fragment of a Wish**_

* * *

The first day of school finally came to an end and students exited the buildings, walking down the road to the Commons.

Shard was glad that the professors hadn't shown any destructive spells such as those he had witnessed during the battle between Malistaire and Ambrose. He was relieved that magic wasn't solely taught for power's sake; every school had its own philosophy to adhere to and there were clear rules that weren't meant to be broken. At the end of the day, everything came down to what the wizard wanted to achieve, the morality of their actions, playing an important role in how magic was perceived by others.

As they arrived at the square in front of Bartleby, Kane asked, "So, now that school's over, what do you think we should do?"

An exited smile crept to Emer's face. "I still have to visit Wizard City properly you know? I wanted to see the shopping district today! Is anyone with me?"

"We can visit the wand shop again!" Kane exclaimed, his mischievous smirk a satsfying reply.

Shard wasn't exactly willing to go to that shop again anytime soon, he hadn't even touched the wand since he had got it. In his heart there was only one thing he wanted to do, and he wasn't sure if any of his friends were willing to follow his proposal. Unicorn Park was the first place where he had come to accept magic, and after a day exposed to it, he wanted to be reassured of his previous decision to accept it by going there once more.

Kane and Emer started to walk, apparently having made the decision for the whole group. Shard slowly walked behind them, only to bump into Kane, who had stopped abruptly.

Rose was behind them in the middle of the street, her feet shuffling and her gaze fixed on the floor. "I-I need to do something actually."

"Eh?"Kane asked, tilting his head in confusion.

Emer approached her, and said, "Oh, really? Need any help with it?"

Rose gave them an embarrassed smile and a nervous laugh. "Do you know how to get to Unicorn Way by any chance? I haven't been around the city much."

Emer's instant reply made Rose relax. "Sure, we can go even now."

Kane snorted, "But we've been there yesterday! I wanted to go to the shopping district!"

Shard shook his head at how his friend was behaving. Kane wouldn't let it go whenever he had a plan to have fun."What do you think about splitting up? I'll show Rose Unicorn Park, while you go have fun or whatever at the shopping district."

"Shard, are you sure about that?" Emer asked.

"Yep, don't worry. You wanted to see the city, right? See you later," and with that Shard signalled for Rose to follow, secretly cheering inside.

"Thanks for taking me there," Rose said, walking by his side.

"No problem… I actually wanted to go there too."

Silence fell between them as they walked. Rose didn't seem to want to ask anything, or say anything, seemingly focusing on whatever thing she needed to do in Unicorn Way. Shard found it a bit awkward, but he would finally be able to hear that song again, maybe even make up some of the notes. Even just humming it to himself would have helped him greatly with dealing with whatever school would throw at him.

"So... why did you want to go to Unicorn Way?"

Rose took a few seconds before replying, her words made it seem like she didn't know what she was looking for either."Let's say that… um… I'm interested in the fact that someone has been able to animate a statue recently."

"Why are you interested in something like that?" Shard asked, remembering how he had heard a similar story when he went to the infirmary for the first time.

"Wanted to check it out, that's it."

"Alright."

That was the last thing she said and both of them continued their walk down in the tunnel that would lead them to the street, getting to Unicorn Park a few minutes later.

"Thank you for showing me the way," Rose said, taking out a book with a bright red cover. Shard didn't have the time to look at the title, distinguishing only a word, which was 'Familiars', written in fancy golden letters.

Without exactly knowing what a familiar was, he didn't really have any clue on what Rose was looking for. He sat on the grass, letting the peaceful atmosphere hanging in the park soothe him after the long hours at school. After a few seconds, he lied down completely, hands beneath his head as pillows as he repeated Emer's instructions in his mind _._

 _Don't think about problems, don't look, just listen,_ he told himself.

Shard heard the fairies singing, the rustle of leaves, everything. Everything apart from that particular song. There was no trace of it. The only thing that actually came close to it were the fairies, but it just wasn't the same. It was like they took a few notes of it, but not the thing itself.

With a sigh, he opened his eyes again. Rose was furiously turning the pages of her book, muttering to herself things he couldn't make up. She then seemed to suddenly snap in anger, taking a small rock out of her pocket and throwing it in the river. Shard raised an eyebrow as he saw that, and Rose blushed once she saw that she she had an audience.

"Not a word on that!" she said, before he could even think of where to begin with questions.

"Right…"

She slowly approached the spot next to him and sat down, letting out a sigh.

"Found what you were looking for?" Shard asked.

"Not really, it just seems to be more complicated than I thought at first," she replied, biting her lip as she shifted her gaze from the book to the statue and vice versa. Shard was curious about what got more complicated, but he wasn't sure she'd be willing to share with him anything about it.

Not much time passed before silence came between them again. Shard had never been much of a talker, and Rose didn't seem to want to chat either. After trying to focus for the third time, Shard realized that he wouldn't have been able to hear the song, so he sat up again to look at the fairies, busy as always gathering berries from nearby bushes.

"There you are!" Kane's voice suddenly reached them.

The boy quickly approached them with a fast sprint, Emer, trying to keep up behind him, holding what looked like a big bubble-maker. She stopped near the water, panting hard, and quickly submerged the loop at the top of the stick in the river.

Kane tackled Shard to the ground in his mad run, only to roll sideways and tell them in a panic," Run quick! I have no idea where she managed to buy that!"

"Eh?" That was all Shard could say before Kane got up again and continued his desperate escape.

"What was that all about?" Rose wondered out loud.

"No idea," Shard replied, shifting his gaze towards Emer, who was coming towards them with a wide, dangerous smile, "but we better listen to Kane!"

With a slow, dramatic movement, Emer brought the loop in front of her mouth and blew through it. As if she had used soap to make it, a bubble formed, fluctuating free in the air.

"Go get them bubble!" Emer said, letting herself go in a rather overly dramatic maniacal laughter, much unlike her normal attitude.

Much to Shard's horror, the bubble actually obeyed, drifting in their direction at fast speed. Rose squeaked and got out of the way, leaving Shard, all alone in front of the imminent danger.

Splash. The bubble exploded as it made contact with the boy, who was still halfway through getting up. Water got out of the bubble, soaking Shard whole as if an entire bucket had been thrown at him.

"Come on Shard! You should be faster than that!" Emer giggled, preparing to strike again, this time in Rose's direction.

"Emer, no please!" Rose pleaded without much success, the bubble chasing her a few seconds later as she zigzagged around Unicorn Park at full speed.

"Tremble before my newfound power, you peasants!" Emer giggled, creating a third bubble, this time ordering it to chase Kane.

"Shard, at least pretend you're running!" the new bubble-overlord complained, looking down on a completely soaked Shard, who was looking at her with jaw ajar, trying to comprehend what had just gotten into his friend.

"It doesn't seem like it makes that much of a difference…" he said, pointing to Rose, who had just thrown her bag out of the way to avoid it getting wet right before the bubble exploded onto her back.

"Oh really?" Emer asked with a mischievous smile that would have given Kane a run for his money, "How about I focus on you then?"

A little while later, Shard found himself running for his life and as three bubbles chased him in circles around the unicorn statue.

* * *

 _ **Fragment of a Wish**_

* * *

Three unfortunate and completely soaked children kneeled down in front of Emer and her bubble-maker of doom.

"Is that enough for you?" she said smugly.

Shard, Rose, and Kane lifted their gazes and glared at her.

Emer just sighed, "Oh well, got tired of it anyway." She blew into the bubble-maker one last time, creating a huge bubble ready for release. Much to the three children's surprise, Emer shrugged and jumped forward hugging the bubble to trigger one last, final water explosion, soaking herself Whole.

After a few seconds of utter disbelief, everyone laughed, taking the act as the end of the hostilities.

"You guys are crazy," Rose commented, a bright smile lighting up her face.

"Would be boring if we weren't right?" Kane replied.

"Just why did you buy that, Emer?" Shard said, the thought of having just had fun using a magical object barely crossing his mind.

"Oh, well. The wand shop guy gave it to me for free if I managed to take Kane away…"

Trying to take the bubble-maker out of Emer's grasp, Kane said, "No fair! I Want to try it too!"

"Not a chance, you'd end up blowing up the whole world with it."

"Aw…"

They decided to take it easy for the rest of the day, at least until they got their clothes dry again. The sun shined bright on them, it's warm rays promising a lazy afternoon. It was then that Shard heard it again. The song that he desperately wanted to listen to.

"Maybe staying is the right choice after all," he muttered to himself, curving his lips in a smile.

* * *

 **Yep, there was some fluff… I think that's the correct term for it… There are reasons for that though! When I wrote the first draft it was hot, and I wanted water... and I was probably going to melt if I didn't write it! You want a happy, healthy author, do you?!**

 **I think some fluff does fit the theme of Wizard101… I mean we all like exploring some mysterious, legendary lands, learning new uber powerful spells from professors and eccentric mentors alike, but I found that the most magical thing in the game is to have fun with friends.**

 **Rosemary Green is finally a part of the cast, woohoo! She was actually born as a FoaW character and ended up getting her own story along the way.**

 **Anyway, this is my take on the 'Meet the Professors' quest in-game. It will continue next chapter, so don't leave the Spiral just yet!**

 **Yep, I always wanted to say that in an A/N, regardless of that old, crazy witch glaring at me from the corner. Dang! She's sending her statues after me… I gotta run now, before she manages to turn me to stone! D:**


	12. Malorn's Merry Seance

**Author's Notes: Hey there! This chapter was pretty fun to write and I hope you'll enjoy it! As always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, and I thank everyone who keeps reading what I write. :)**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

 **(Chapter updated 05/11/2018)**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 12 – Malorn's Merry Seance**_

* * *

The first lesson of the second day of school was Death, so everyone met up in front of the Death School, or at least, the place where it once stood. Rumours were that Malistaire himself had torn it apart from campus on the very same day he had left Wizard City. Malorn Ashthorn was waiting for them near the chasm with a smirk on his face.

"Hello novices! As you can see for yourselves, we don't have a tower like the other schools anymore, but we'll try to substitute it with the next big thing; the Haunted Cave. There is lots of Death magic in there," he explained.

The Haunted Cave? The name of the place they were heading to sounded quite ominous and Shard noticed a few students trembling in fear just at the mention of it.

"The Haunted Cave? Isn't it… full of ghosts?" The one who talked was Alex, who seemed to be feeling better than the day before, his face not hiding one bit his skepticism.

"What's your name?" Malorn asked.

"Alex Stormheart."

Malorn shared one of his best smiles and replied, "Alex, of course, there are ghosts. Last minute information for you: Death is all about ghosts and you know… dead stuff."

A shiver went down Shard's spine at those words. Were they going to a place haunted by ghosts? Was it safe for them to go there? He glanced towards Kane, hoping that he would say something that proved it wrong. Judging from the continuous whispers around him, they would just as well be walking to their doom.

After looking at Kane, Shard rolled his eyes in defeat; the boy was smiling with sparkly eyes full of enthusiasm. That sure did confirm that ghosts were dangerous and they were all going to die in that place.

 _Drag novices in dangerous caves, what a good way to start the year_!

At least Alex wasn't willing to give up anytime soon, questioning Malorn to get something more out of him, "Is it actually safe to go in there? I heard that the undead which attacked the Four Falls Mill came from there! What does the headmaster say about it!?"

"The headmaster knows about it, we can't risk rookie wizards getting hurt. Don't worry, there is nothing to fear. If you follow my instructions, you might just have good chances to come back alive, most of the malevolent undead have been cleared by a team of experienced wizards."

Alex seemed to be going to bring up another argument, but Malorn didn't give him time to do so, adding with nonchalance, "although I'll understand if you aren't willing to continue your studies at Ravenwood, you can still dedicate to something far less dangerous than wizardry and live a happy, long life."

At those words, Alex went silent, sending Malorn's way a scowl that spoke louder than every word he could have said.

"If nobody has any other objection, Headmaster Ambrose already opened a portal for us," Malorn announced, waving his hand towards a dazzling white gateway that opened as soon as he finished talking.

"Who wants to go first? Do you want the honor, Alex Stormheart?" Malorn asked, ignoring Kane, who as soon as the professor's assistant had asked for volunteers, had started frantically waving his hand, saying "Pick me! Pick me!" under the bewildered eyes of the other classmates.

"Does he have a death wish or something?" Rose whispered to Shard and Emer.

"I would like to say that he has a bit of common sense, but I would be lying," Emer replied.

"Yeah, I'm still trying to understand how he manages to stay alive," Shard added.

Rose shook her head. "At least we have a test subject for that portal thingy in case Alex isn't willing to be the first one."

Some time passed without any sound other than the whispers from the novices. Shard started to think that Alex would back down, letting Kane do his thing, but then it happened. Without uttering a single word, Alex marched angrily towards the portal. Once he got in front of it, he hesitated, looking back at Malorn and narrowing his eyes. The professor's assistant smirking back at him, daring the boy to continue. Alex glanced back at the portal, closed his eyes and jumped inside, disappearing from sight with a zapping sound.

"Oh, he got some guts, that's good! Necromancers need some courage after all;" Malorn exclaimed as he clapped in appreciation.

Before he could add anything more, he had to move out of the way, as Kane dashed at bullet speed right through the portal, shouting incoherent things about fame and glory.

Malorn stared in disbelief at the gateway for a few seconds, probably trying to piece together what had just happened. He then dismissed everything with a shrug and addressed the rest of the class,"Everyone get inside, we don't have all day."

The students slowly moved to the portal, jumping in and disappearing one by one. In no time, Shard, Rose, and Emer found themselves in front of the white gateway. Emer went ahead and turned back to Shard and Rose with a smile."Let's go get that redhead. At my go, we jump together," she giggled.

Shard gulped and nodded while Rose didn't say anything, eyes stuck on the gateway.

"One, two, three, go!" Emer shouted, grabbing Shard's and Rose's hands and jumping through.

The memory of the black hole was still fresh in Shard's mind, so he expected something similar, but as he went through the gateway, it felt completely different. It was less forceful and more gentle, like diving into a pool full of water and coming out again. The energy enveloped him in protection as he felt traveling a great distance with a single step. Vibrations went through his body and a zapping sound, informed him that he had made it through. Still holding tight to Emer's hand, he opened his eyes, not remembering ever closing them.

The drop in temperature and the muffled sound of a waterfall caught Shard by surprise. His lungs filling with humid air smelling like moss. The place around them was completely different from Ravenwood's campus. A single tower stood lonely on a patch of land that rose up from a river. Two trees devoid of leaves were at the sides of the building, lifting their twisted branches up towards the ceiling of what appeared to be an extremely large cave.

The cave stretched way beyond the tower, opening up in the distance like the huge mouth of a terrifying beast. There was a tense whispering going on around them as the Ravenwood students pointed at something left of the tower. Shard couldn't see what it was with many people standing in between, hiding it from sight.

The zapping sound was heard once more, and another novice bumped into him from behind, muttering some excuses. Shard apologized for being in the way and followed Rose's advice when she said to move towards the tower.

As they moved down the bridge, Emer let go both of their hands and hugged herself, complaining about the cold.

"It's not that cold," Shard said.

"Is it not? I do feel it though…" Emer replied.

They made their way down the bridge on which the portal had appeared, looking for Kane in the crowd. They found him near the tower, out of reach as other students stood in the way.

As they approached the tower, everyone went deadly silent, as if the words had been stolen from them by an unknown entity. Since people were still slowly making their way through the gateway, Shard took some time to look around in greater detail.

The patch of land on which the class was gathered, was connected by a stone bridge to a street, not so different from those in the other parts of Wizard City. There were many houses on the side of the road, and even though most of them looked like being in an advanced state of abandonment, others were certainly inhabited.

He could tell because of the feeble light of candles through the dirty windows which created creepy shadows, stretching down on the pavement. Shard wondered who in his right mind would have chosen to live in such a place, and he jumped in terror when a creaking sound, followed by the violent slamming of a door, broke the ominous silence.

"Did you hear that?" Rose cried out, her lonely voice felt out of place in the cave.

Shard heard that loud and clear. The ominous sounds were, in his imagination, certainly the doing of some unknown, evil entity, ready to ambush them when they lowered their guard. The boy shook his head, trying to clear it from such thoughts. Malorn had assured them that they were safe, and thinking rationally about it, there was no reason to instantly think about unknown, evil entities in the first place.

For how creepy the sudden background sounds were, even more unnerving was the tense silence that fell around them whenever the sounds stopped. It pressed on Shard's ears, making him feel alone in te middle of a crowd.

There was a last zap as the portal disappeared and Malorn Ashtorn walked towards them with his trademark smile which utterly failed to look reassuring. Shard would have preferred to avoid listening to anything Malorn had to say, sure that he was going to take advantage of their fear in some way or another. As soon as he thought that, the image of Malorn's lips sewn shut surfaced in his mind, a smile on his face while he slowly lifted his finger, signaling him to not talk either.

He shivered. What did he just think?! Blinking repeatedly, he cleared his thoughts. He had never had such vivid and horrifying thoughts in his entire life! He was sure that his nerves were getting the better of him.

Malorn didn't say anything and walked towards the tower, the class moving to the sides to let him pass just enough to avoid falling down to their dooms in the rushing waters below. Malorn turned left and headed towards a bunch of white marble slabs placed vertically on the ground.

Shard hadn't been able to see them until everyone had moved aside and he widened his eyes at the realization of what they were. Emer and Rose gasped as they eyed the tombs from afar, slowly moving closer to each other in an illusory attempt at safety. Shard had seen Greyfell's cemetery once, and there wasn't anything special about it. The tombs in the haunted cave were rather different though. Shard started to imagine horrible things in his mind as soon as his gaze lingered on them.

He imagined rotting arms coming out of the ground to drag him down. He fought and screamed but nothing came out of his throat, his body sinking slowly in the ground as more hands took a tight grip of him. As his head was about to sink in too, replacing the air in his lungs with dirt, the name on the tomb changed to his.

A loud clap echoed around them, waking Shard from his reverie. Malorn Ashtorn was standing near the tomb that Shard had imagined would be his own, shaking his head. With a quick look around, Shard noticed that many other students looked like waking up from a nightmare, their faces mirroring the fear they felt inside.

Malorn lifted his hands dramatically and explained, "This is the power of Death magic, young wizards. It feeds on your fears and amplifies them to get more energy. Necromancers must use this to their advantage to be effective in battle. They aren't as strong or resilient as other wizards, but they take what they lack from others, becoming, in my opinion, the best kind of wizards. Now come and have a seat next to the nice graves here."

Shard didn't like the sound of Malorn's words, they seemed menacing as if he was luring them into a trap. Was that another effect of Death magic?

A quick glance at Emer and her pale face confirmed that she wasn't that fond of this kind of magic, let alone sitting near those graves. In a few minutes, they all found their place in a semicircle in front of the marble slabs. Shard tried to read what was written on them from afar, but every time he tried, the words would shift to his name, Emer's, or even Kane's.

Malorn clapped again, breaking the hold fear had on some of the students, and said, "In the first half of the lesson, you will try to control your fears and avoid panic. Be very careful, I don't want to catch people jumping off cliffs screaming in terror or anything like that."

"Did someone actually ever try to jump down?" Rose inquired, lifting a shaky hand.

"Once or twice, they couldn't stand the tension..."

Ten minutes passed at a painstakingly slow speed, and Shard then knew why those students had snapped, the tension high, the feeling of imminent danger crawling up his spine. Shard would jump every time someone moved or whispered something, his mind screaming for him to flee and his heart beating way too fast. The light coming from the cave opening in the distance didn't seem to be able to cut through the darkness of the place. It actually felt as if they were drifting apart from it, giving the impression of being slowly swallowed whole.

It was just like it had been with Malistaire; his imagination and thoughts had become a weapon against himself. He wanted it to end fast. Jumping off the cliff started to become more and more desirable every second. Give up and everything will be alright, endings let people rest from their long and painful stories.

Shard pinched his arm hard, leaving a red mark. The tension seemed to lessen a little bit. He still felt as if something was about to attack him from the back, and he still had to turn and check every few seconds or so, but at least his mind was less clouded and he could rationally say that nothing would attack him.

Emer wasn't doing very well, though. She was curled up in a ball, hugging her knees as her eyes darted from one side to the other. Rose was better off, trying to keep her mind occupied by reading a book, muttering," I'm in my happy place" over and over again.

Shard shifted his gaze to the other students and noticed that in one way or another, everyone was doing their best to avoid falling prey of those vivid visions. Even Kane and Alex were doing their best by glaring at each other, trying to hide the trembling of their hands. Some people, on the other hand, seemed completely at ease, yawning and sighing as the rest of the class cowered in fear.

After a while, Malorn decided that they weren't scared enough, and started telling a horror story. They were obliged to hear him, and the class screamed in terror a few times when Malorn revealed some of the scariest parts. Malorn's words made their way into their head, stripping them away all common sense and rationality. Just the thought of an evil wraith who was said to inhabit the tower right next to them, sealed away by the meager sigil carved on the door, made some novices faint from pure terror.

By the end of the hour, quite a few students were sobbing in tears, some were unmoving, sprawled on the floor, and others were calling their mothers, pleading Malorn to let them go home. Malorn wasn't merciful though, and decided that the next part of the lesson would be used to summon the dead.

"Does anybody know why this place is so scary?" Malorn asked.

The class looked at him in panic and didn't answer. Malorn continued on without bothering to wait, "The reason is that many powerful necromancers were buried here. They terrified people during their whole life, and will continue to do so forever in death. Today we will attempt to summon the elder seer, an old tradition, here at Ravenwood."

Everyone backed away from the tombs while trying to keep a distance from the tower, ending up in a heap of scared novices. Malorn produced a long staff from his bag and started to draw a black symbol in the air with his hand. Silence filled the place once again as Malorn finished drawing the symbol, hitting it with the hand and making it disappear in a small flash. Nothing happened for the next few seconds, but when the danger seemed to have passed, a ghost slowly came into existence on top of one of the tombs.

The ghost itself was only a transparent cloak that covered a nonexistent body, levitating a few centimeters above the ground. If Shard hadn't been looking in its direction, he was sure he could have missed it. It was a very feeble presence, as if it could flicker away from existence any second. Shard stood there transfixed as the ghost approached them, its shape getting clearer. The feeling of cold engulfed his very being and Shard started to find difficulty in breathing. It wasn't a cold dependant on the air around them, it penetrated deeply in his very soul. Shard jumped in surprise as Emer's hand took a hold of his robe, as she looked in front of her unfocused.

"W-What is happening?" She whispered. Shard would have liked to ask her if she saw the ghost too, but the words died down in his throat.

"Say hello to the elder seer. A ghost who reveals secrets of the beyond to whoever is willing to accept his wisdom. Oh, beware... you might see glimpses of your death," Malorn said, his face becoming suddenly serious. The students started to look around in panic and many of them got up and backed away from the graves some more.

"Now, Now, we do not want to empower it too much don't we? I am keeping its presence at a minimum, but you still have to control your fears," Malorn scolded them."So, how many of you can actually see it?"

Shard didn't raise his hand. It felt too heavy to move and the thought of attracting the attention of the ghost made him uneasy, sending his mind into chaos. His heart was pounding hard and images started to flash in front of his eyes. He could have sworn to have heard a distant roar and helpless screams.

 _He felt dead, his body unable to move. A deep ache in his soul. An endless fight of power that slowly sent him to his doom._

 _He was floating in darkness. His very being was shattered. Fragments of himself drifted off into the distance, carrying memories of pain and sorrow. He was lost and alone. Names came to his lips, but they were forgotten before he could utter them. He couldn't give up. Not now. He had to do something. The Spiral was in danger._

"You have already died," The elder seer spoke, chilling the blood in his veins.

 _His eyelids kept closing on their own accord. Did he still have a body? Darkness enveloped him in a gentle hug. Was this the end? Did he manage to save them after all? He couldn't tell. He was going back from where he came from. That was the end._

Shard snapped out of it as soon as Malorn clapped again. "I said, Does anybody see it?"

A couple of shaky hands lifted up from the crowd and Malorn smiled, "Nice. You have a great chance of being a Death wizard. Most souls don't have a direct effect on the physical plane, so being able to perceive the dead even when they aren't actively trying to affect us, is very important. Death students have to understand what death is about, and accept it. That will take you closer to Death and give you power."

He then waved his staff and the ghost faded away, taking with it the cold. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they felt the presence disappearing.

"Luckily I didn't see anything. I can't stand this type of magic at all. It's creepy," Emer said, holding tight to Shard's robe.

"You didn't see it…" Shard mumbled, his thought processes slowly starting to work again. Seeing as Emer eyed him suspiciously, he decided to tease her to avoid her getting worried, "Weren't you the one that talked big about all magic being used for good? Now you're saying you can't stand Death magic?"

"Yeah of course… I'm sure there are some really nice necromancers out there, but for the life of me, I am not going to study this magic branch myself," she commented.

Rose cut into the conversation with a shaky smile after the ghostly experience, "You know, if what I think is true, then what you have said might as well be more right than you think it is."

"Uh?" Emer and Shard said in unison.

"Nevermind. Look! Malorn has activated the portal again! We are free!" Rose said, getting up and running towards the gateway.

The students crowded the entrance to the portal and they jumped in as fast as they could. Even Kane and Alex wanted to leave the place as fast as possible.

Shard had to help Emer get to the portal, she was shaking hard and told him she had just a bit of a headache. Looking down to his own legs, he found them trembling. He had seen the ghost. Did it mean that he had to study Death magic? He hoped that it wasn't the case. That fear came through the portal with him though, and followed him to his next lessons.

* * *

 **To tell the truth, I didn't want to give a whole chapter to the Death School, but since there was some plot involved, it came out longer than I thought at first. Summoning the Elder Seer is part of an actual quest for necromancers, and I really wanted to include it at some point. Gave even a bit of a back-story to the tombs near Stormdrain Tower, I always wondered who they belonged to.** **XD**

 **Next chapter might come out either next week, or two weeks from now, depending on how busy I'll be.** **See you next time!**


	13. Teachings of Ice and Fire

**Author's notes: I… have… managed… finally…**

 **Yep, this chapter was difficult to write but extremely satisfying once it was done. I have been very busy and couldn't really pour too much time in writing it. Since the previous chapter problems just keep popping out of nowhere. So I would really be glad for any feedback, though it makes me happy to see people reading the last chapter.**

 **It makes me think that there is some interest in what I'm writing, and gives me the charge to keep going! :D**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

 **And let's continue the story, shall we?**

 **(Updated 05/16/2018)**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 13- Teachings of Ice and Fire**_

* * *

They had a bit of free time before the next lesson and Shard, Rose, Kane, and Emer decided to sit on a bench near the Myth school, hoping to recover from the experience in the Haunted Cave.

"I don't want to go anywhere near a cave for the rest of my life now," Rose confessed, hugging her bag.

"Oh come on. It was scary, but it can be done again! What if there is a treasure in a similarly scary cave?" Kane said.

"Then you better not take that treasure. Anything of value found in a place brimming with Death magic is surely a trap," Rose replied.

In no time Kane and Rose started a discussion on famous rediscovered treasures of the spiral, starting a heated argument on whether it was worth the risk of getting cursed just to recover them. By overhearing their conversation, Shard found out that there were lots of rich people bearing minor curses all around the spiral, and they kept living their lives as normally as possible.

Rose knew a lot of about those things, and as she talked about them, it was clear she loved legends and myths. Her replies were always clear and straightforward, betraying the huge amounts of time she had probably passed with her nose stuck in books, and her eyes lit up whenever the talk shifted towards the most ancient and magical of the legends.

After a little while, the talk shifted towards a book series that Rose had been reading. It was about an archeologist that found treasures around the spiral. The only one who was paying complete attention to her was Kane, who even though had categorically said he hated reading, was intrigued by the story's premise, asking Rose for details so as to avoid reading the actual thing.

Shard thought the book's plot was interesting, and Rose's passionate talk about it made it all the more appealing, but he just couldn't focus on the discussion at all. The cold feeling of death hadn't left him. He remembered the encounter with the Elder Seer all too well. It had said something about him having already died. What did it mean? Looking down on his body, it really looked like he was pretty much alive. Did its words have another meaning entirely?

He didn't like the things he had experienced back in the cave. He felt as if he had actually died down there. That vision, it felt very real, almost like he had remembered something he had completely forgotten. It was a vivid vision, at least that's how Shard rationalized it, and its contents were nothing more than endless darkness. So much for the seer, that ghost hadn't shown him anything at all, just a combination of fuzzy sensations hammering on his senses and confuse him even more than he already was. The only thing that stuck to him was the cold. An unbearable cold engulfing his being Whole as his mind fought to not shatter in a million pieces.

Was that how dying was supposed to feel? Sinking down in endless shadows? He hoped he was wrong, it couldn't be that horrible, could it?

Their free time ran out soon, and Ice was their next class. Upon making their way to the Ice Tower, they were greeted by professor Lydia Greyrose. She was an old fairy, dressed in blue robes and pointed wizard hat, sporting a pair of small glasses on the bridge of her nose. Grey hair and a somewhat plump constitution, made her resemble a loving grandmother, and her smile despite being backed up by the power of Ice, could easily be compared to the warmth of a hearth during winter. When they got inside the tower, they found out that the room was decorated differently from the others.

Professor Greyrose had covered all the floor with a thick layer of cold candid snow. She smiled at the student's awestruck expressions for a few moments, and then told them to use the snow to build anything that came to mind with it. Such a task should have been completed in groups of four people, a simple test of their willingness to cooperate with others. Even so, most students didn't really have any idea what to do with the snow, and Professor Greyrose encouraged them to try out whatever came to mind, giving examples of what she used to build in her Youth. Shard, Emer, Rose, and Kane decided to team up together, and started to brainstorm what they could try to build.

"What about a fortress?" Rose asked.

"That would be wonderful! We can also use it to set up a snowball fight!" Emer agreed.

They divided up their tasks and got to work. Kane would go to the Ice basin in the centre of the room, carrying a bucket completely made of ice, take some freshly created snow, and come back with it for the fort. Shard had to give the snow the shape of blocks, while Rose and Emer worked in tandem at the actual project. They seemed to know what they were doing. That was what Shard thought at first.

Soon enough it was evident that Rose and Emer became far too invested in their project for their own good. The two girls started to add ideas over ideas, so much that the fortress ended up becoming a castle for little snowmen, complete with years of bloody backstory that led to the founding of the Kingdom. Shard knew that they had probably gone too far when Rose started talking about taxes, and how the snowmen were rebelling against the snow queen, who completely ignored their suffering.

"Ice magic is not for the impatient or flighty my goodness, no!" Professor Greyrose scolded Kane, who had just been the cause of the first great natural disaster in the noble realm of whitenburgh. He had stumbled on one of its glorious walls as he rushed back and forth, carrying as much snow as he could so as to compete with other groups. "Focus on your own goals and avoid to get distracted by what others are doing. Go at your own pace, and eventually, through hard work, you will build something to be proud of. Rush the project, and it will all crumble down, like a castle of cards."

When Professor Greyrose had fluttered away to go and give some suggestions to the other groups' projects, Emer scolded Kane, feigning a scandalized voice, "You have just killed Freezelda! She was supposed to be the heir to the throne and bring forth an era of peace and prosperity for her people!"

"Oh no! Now the war with the evil kingdom of Glare is inevitable!" Rose echoed, pointing to Alex's group who was building a fortress too. As soon as Alex noticed that they were looking towards them, he narrowed his eyes, slowly compacting a wall as he stared back at them as if he feared their madness to spread.

At first, Kane hadn't seemed too concerned about the partial destruction of the magnificent castle of whitenburgh, but after hearing about their enemy, aka the emperor of 'The Glare Kingdom', aka Alex, he bent down on his knees and started apologizing to Lady Emer.

"Go my valorous Knight. Bring us to victory!" Emer said, laughing maniacally."You too Shard! Build something that could be useful for war! Like... I don't know… dragons!"

"You want me, who can hardly make a snow block, to make a snow dragon?" Shard deadpanned.

"Yes! We will conquer everything with snow and sweat!" Emer exclaimed dramatically. Shard rolled his eyes. How far were they going to take this joke he wondered?

The next half of the lesson was a lecture on the origins of Ice magic; just as they used snow to build castles, fortresses, snowmen, and whatever crossed their mind, the giants had once built massive castles in the sky. Since it wasn't a formal lesson, Professor Greyrose let them do a snowball fight after she was done with her small lecture.

It didn't go very well for Shard's team, even though everyone gave it is all in their own way. Kane threw snowballs randomly without much aim, Rose hid behind their castle, sniping whoever approached with deadly precision, and Shard ended up making snowballs for her, since he was even worse than Kane at throwing them. Emer, on the other hand, ran around and tried her best to defend the castle, randomly turning towards Shard and shouting, "Where are my dragons?!"

He couldn't blame her actually, the 'dragons' that he had built looked nothing like dragons, more like deformed dogs, and every time he tried to fix them, they became even more horrible.

Shard really had fun during that lesson. He had also learned something more about Ice magic and how it was a school full of defensive spells. He actually started considering studying this kind of magic. The freezing embrace of the cold in that room was nothing like the cold coming from the energies of Death. Ice magic was far colder, but it was something that came from outside his body, whereas the cold that Shard had experienced when dead energies ran amok, came from inside.

Death Magic's cold, felt like the indifference of those around him as he exhaled his last breath. Even after two hours, he could still feel remnants of Death's coldness in his bones. The ghost had certainly clicked something inside of him, something that he didn't want to have anything to do with. Every time he tried to close his eyes, he felt the suffocating darkness pressuring him from all sides, and an empty void in his heart.

They passed most of the lunch break warming up under the warm rays of the sun. They hadn't really noticed how cold and stiff their bodies were until the end of the lesson. Rose theorized that maybe there was a spell to avoid them freezing to death in class and handle the snow without their hands becoming ice cubes.

"Finally, we will have Fire at last!" Kane exclaimed out of the blue, standing up from his spot on the grass. He looked like a five-year-old that was going to buy an extremely desired toy. Shard hoped that they wouldn't be harmed by Kane's shenanigans once he took hold of his wand in close proximity of flames.

The Fire Tower was similar to the other towers, but just like the others it had its own differences. Red and orange flames decorated the walls, and the fire basin radiated heat from the centre of the room. A painting of Daila Falmea, the Fire Professor, was placed triumphantly behind a desk, and on the floor there was yet another symbol carrying an unknown meaning. Shard wondered if these symbols had any significance at all, having seen different ones in each tower. He could easily imagine wizards decorating rooms with weird symbols just because they looked pretty and mysterious.

"Welcome to the Fire Tower. I'm Madame Falmea and I will help you get a better understanding of what Fire truly is," Professor Falmea began.

She was a very formal woman wearing a long red dress that made it look like she had just returned from a royal ball. The lower edge of her skirt had flame-like decorations which flickered whenever she walked around, like the small sparks that preceded a great fire, her orange hair stood upwards like wild flames as she stood beside a basin that radiated a strong heat, containing the essence of Fire itself.

Madame Falmea, as she wanted to be addressed, made them sit down at different tables. She then proceeded to give a very long-winded explanation on the origin of Fire magic and the dragons. Her words came out fluently and with a controlled tone of voice as if she was used to being in the presence of aristocrats. After she finished her lecture, she called one person for every group to get up and pick a box from a bunch piled up against the wall.

Much to his surprise, Shard was chosen to go for his group. He walked to the bunch of boxes and chose a small one going back to his place as fast as he could without giving away his nervousness. After everyone had brought their boxes back to their tables, Madame Falmea told them to open them and look inside.

Kane swiftly opened it and stared at a pile of weird things put together in what seemed to have been a random selection. There were small branches cut off from a tree, some scraps of paper and an old long dress with intricate designs that was falling apart. Others were far more valuable and possibly more dangerous, such as some bronze coins with arcane symbols drawn on them, a silver colored powder in a small vial, and a fossil of a funny looking seashell that glimmered green.

"Since there are many ingredients that will go to waste if not used, this year I'm going to attempt something different from the usual. You will all have to choose one of the objects from the box. Remember though, you have to choose with your heart. The mind is an enemy in this exercise," Madame Falmea said.

Rose lifted her hand and asked, "How do we choose with our heart? Do we have to take something that we like?"

"Good question. It isn't as simple as that. Take your time to look at what is inside the box, and choose only if you feel that it is the right thing to do. No logic, listen to your emotions."

Everyone looked inside the box again. Shard stared down at the weird assortment of things and tried to focus. He had to feel his emotions, right? What did he feel?

There was a sense of emptiness, it had stayed with him since he had seen to the Elder Seer.

anything else?

He felt safe, for some reason. Emer was there beside him with her eyes narrowed, trying to understand how the exercise worked, Kane was in front of him, touching the various items and shaking his head as he mumbled inaudible things and Rose... he had met her just the day before, she was yet another person that didn't forget him. People weren't forgetting him in Wizard City. This gave him a warm feeling that clashed with his constant feeling of solitude.

Magic. that was another controversial problem that contributed in his inability to completely understand how he felt. He didn't completely accept magic yet, but after he had seen multiple sides of it, he accepted that it wasn't as scary as he thought at first. Well, he was still reluctant about using it himself snce a wrong spell meant a great risk of harming Others, but he didn't freeze like a shocked rabbit whenever a spell was cast close to him which could be considered an improvement.

Despite his hesitation, Shard wasn't angry at Emer for her choices, not anymore at least. It definitely was better to stay under the leafy branches of Bartleby, the supposed creator of the Titans, instead of going back to Greyfell alone where nobody would even notice his existence.

Falmea started to call the people who had already chosen their item."Come here, and let the fire reveal where does your heart stay. Find out how to trigger strong emotions, understand them and use them to fuel your ambition. You must not be harsh, lest you destroy what you want to achieve," Madame Falmea said.

The first one to try had chosen a wooden miniature of a dragon. The boy threw it inside the Fire basin on Falmea's request, looking intently at the flames. Some time passed and nothing happened. As a result, the boy was sent back to his place.

"You don't have to rely on logic. Let your emotions guide you," Repeated the Fire Professor.

Three other students threw something into the basin, and for three times nothing happened. Shard started to think that maybe it was a difficult magic to pull off.

Finally, Alex's turn came. He took a deep breath and threw a coin inside the basin. The fire flickered and grew in height, consuming the coin as if it were made of wood and not metal. The class stared in awe as a cloud of smoke rose up from the basin and started to swirl in a grey orb.

Madame Falmea placed a hand on Alex's shoulder and said, "Well done Alex, now look at the smoke, let it reveal your roots. What your heart stands for."

A few minutes during which Alex stared at the grey orb as if in trance passed. Every student in the room shifted their gaze between him and the smoke in silent suspense. After what seemed like a lot of time, the smoke dispersed, and Alex stumbled backwards, taking deep breaths as if he hadn't been breathing for the entire duration of the spell.

A chorus of 'What did you see?' erupted from the class, and Madame Falmea shushed them, saying that whatever Alex had seen was his own choice to share, since whatever the fire told was a personal matter.

Everyone started to take their task more seriously in order to get to replicate what Alex had done and many failed to do so, even though many others succeeded. The fire reacted differently to every person, some had a similar reaction to Alex's smoky orb, drawing shapes just above the basin, while with others the fire started to crackle loudly or sparks would fly around the room like shooting stars, and in some cases the flames themselves bent to form shapes of their own.

"Ugh, I should have known that it wasn't the right decision to burn that dress," Rose complained, coming back to her place after failing her attempt.

"It's a hard exercise, isn't it? I hope I chose right… but I feel that I wouldn't choose anything else, so it should be right... Wish me good luck," Emer replied, standing up with a bunch of leaves fallen from the branch in the box.

"Good luck," Shard said, following Emer with his gaze as she approached the basin with a determined expression. She pulled up her sleeves for good measure, glanced to Falmea to wait for her signal, and threw the leaves inside the basin.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, but then the flames started to grow and took form. Red vines of searing lava emerged from the basin, they aimed up at the ceiling, fusing together in their attempt to sustain themselves. They joined in a thick trunk, and leafy branches sprouted on top of the flaming tree.

Shard had seen the Fire Tree outside the school of Fire but it still had a bark made of wood, even though its branches were caught up in an eternal burning fire. Instead, the tree that emerged from the basin was completely made of flames and ash. Most of the class stood with their jaws agape as small flowers blossomed on the branches, taking off as butterflies and started circling around Emer. She was looking straight into the fire and her eyes were distant as if she recalled something pleasant.

The spell lasted for half a minute, then the butterflies faded away and the tree disappeared into the flames as Emer came back from her visions. Madame Falmea started to clap, soon joined by the rest of the class. Shard found himself smiling as he clapped for his friend. She seemed to be really good with magic stuff, at least she won't get overwhelmed by it anytime soon.

"Did you see that? I bet she'll be a Pyromancer!" Kane exclaimed, searching for something to throw in the basin with renewed interest.

"That was spectacular," Rose agreed.

Emer came back to them with a bright smile and watery eyes. She must have seen something extremely pleasing in the basin, or something extremely sad. They congratulated her as she sat down back in her seat, her hand on her chest breathing heavily, confessing that her heart was beating like crazy.

"Be quick to choose, don't think too much about it. The lesson is almost finished," she suggested.

Kane shrugged his shoulders and took out a red feather from the box. Shard hadn't seen it before because it was covered by other stuff, and for an instant he considered asking Kane to let him take it, a thought that was quickly dismissed. "Shard be quick! We will beat Emer at this, we will summon a whole forest if that's what it takes," he grinned.

"Oh, come at me then." Emer laughed, feigning a battle stance.

"Have you chosen yet?" Madame Falmea approached them. Shard and Kane were the last two of their group who had to do the exercise. Shard stuck his hand in the box without thinking, taken by surprise by being addressed by the teacher completely unprepared. His hand felt something smooth to the touch and he readily took it, more so as to look ready, and not much for the exercise itself.

"Alright then, go to the basin," Falmea ordered.

Shard got up following Kane to the small basin brimming with fire and lava. On his way, he looked down to what he had taken out from the box; It was a small transparent crystal. Once it must have been in perfect hexagonal shape, but as it rested in Shard's palm, he could see that it was chipped in many parts, pieces falling off at his every movement.

As he looked at it he understood what Emer had meant. He wouldn't change it for any other thing in the box. It felt extremely familiar and somehow painful. He didn't like how it was crumbling to dust in his very hands. He wanted to fix it somehow.

"Kane Fireblade. Let us see if Fire does run through your veins," Madame Falmea said.

Kane nodded and threw his feather inside the basin. The flames stretched out to grab it, embracing it in their heat. They enlarged and roared taking once again shape. The mighty head of a huge dragon, completely made of fire, emerged from the basin. It hissed out loud, taking in its surroundings. It was growing, becoming even bigger than Emer's tree. The wings started to emerge as well and the creature roared as they flapped free, sending searing waves of heat in the room.

Someone screamed and Shard could tell that the others were amazed by the creature. Kane stood there, mesmerized by it, as the creature showed him where his heart stood. Shard slowly backed away. The creature was gazing at him with fiery rage it's will pressing on Shard's mind with brute force. Memories of something he was sure had never happened to him resurfaced.

 _A city. A huge dragon. The beast wouldn't stop, it brought fear and destruction in its wake as it roamed in the sky above, it's armies taking out warriors and civilians alike. The roars that meant that more people died in terrible explosions traveled through the air and deep rumbles echoed beneath the streets. Crystals. There were crystals around him. Was he able to make the difference? He watched as the dragon rained more destruction upon the city, he shouted in anger as tears streamed down his cheeks. He had to fight it, there was no other choice._

Shard tightened his grip on his crystal as he watched the dragon roar and lunge at him from the basin. He didn't have time to understand what had happened, let alone evade the attack. The dragon's searing flames swallowed him whole, its blazing teeth trying to tear him apart. He heard screams and a red barrier was summoned around him, preventing his body from being burned by the blazing inferno around him. The crystal in his hand turned to dust, and he was left holding nothing. A loud boom echoed in his ears and his name was shouted by someone as he was sent flying by the explosion, landing like ragdoll on the floor.

His mind couldn't focus on anything. His body ached in pain. Madame Falmea was coming for him, shouting something to the class. A loud roar echoed in his mind and visions clawed their way inside him, forcing him in that nightmare once more. He groaned, trying to keep his mind focused on reality, but it felt like fighting against a whirlpool with weights pulling down his body. He stopped fighting, his mind completely overwhelmed by the terrible images.

* * *

 **That was one nasty reaction huh?**

 **This is how it ends for now. I will continue next time, which will hopefully be next week, or as I said last time, the week after it. :P**

 **It's a busy time for me, but I'll try hard to keep up with the updates, so don't abandon hope!**


	14. What Has Been and What Will Be

**Author's Notes:**

 **And here I am again. Couldn't publish this one last week, but I did respect the second deadline, and I published even a day before that! HA!**

 **I heard Empyrea is being tested these days... It will probably take lots of time for it to be available on the Italian server, but I'm pretty excited for it! :D**

 **As always I thank everyone who follows, favs, reviews, and reads, and I hope you'll enjoy the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

 **(Updated 05/23/2018)**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 14 – What Has Been and What Will Be**_

* * *

 _He tried to lift himself from the ground, but he was too weak to get up, too weak to care anymore. Huge sparkling crystals shone brightly around him as the flames consumed everything else in their insatiable hunger. He didn't feel hot, neither cold, just empty. How could he fill the void?_

 _Someone was in front of him; a Qhat, cladded in a crimson jacket, adorned with obscure silver symbols. Green, feline eyes were fixed on Shard as if he could explain the reason behind the devastation around them. Cat-like ears peaked up in interest, keeping the expensive turban adorning his head in place as the Qhat asked a single question. "Are you —?"_

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _As soon as the words left the Qhat's mouth, Shard found himself unable to remember them. He knew they were important, but they had slipped past him, forgotten. Tears rolled down his cheeks, and time passed at the rythm of the silver pocket watch, held tight in the Qhat's paw. Shard didn't give an answer to the question.___________

" _No, it is evident. You are not him, just a Shard," the Qhat concluded with disappointment._

" _Sh-Shard?" he stuttered. That somehow felt right, he was but a Shard._

 _Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

 _Time itself seemed to stop whenever the pocket watch ticked, forced to synchronize to the slow and steady rhythm of the magical artifact. The Qhat lifted it up for Shard to see. Inside it, grey clouds swirled, hiding the time as the watch's silver hands slowly moved._

 _"Time for you to settle in a new home," the Qhat said._

 _Darkness hid everything from sight, and the ground crumbled beneath Shard. The boy fell, for how long, he couldn't tell. Just as fast as it had covered everything in its embrace, the darkness vanished and Shard found himself in the middle of a narrow road. Around him, a city full of grey buildings, standing under an ever clouded sky._

 _Was this his new home? His home, or his prison? Everything was fuzzy. Scattered. Confused. Burnt down to ashes. There was no way to discern mere fantasies from memories._

 _The dragon. The city. The basin. He was attacked. Voracious red flames were eating away at his mind. Shard managed a weak protest and it came out as a useless groan. Maybe it was for the better. Give up. Turn to ashes and scatter in the wind. He felt so tired. So lonely._

" _Shard!" someone shouted in the distance. Who was that? He felt the void filling with something. It felt warm. What was the name again?_

 _Confused names. Useless names. They defined nothing more than shadowy figments of imagination._

" _Come on, wake up! Don't make me worry!"_

 _Wake up? Why did the voice feel so desperate? The name was slowly coming back to him. The fire had followed him, if not around him, then in his own mind. Red flames gnawed at the name, attempting to turn it to ash. He found himself desperate to recall it._

" _E-Em-" That was almost it. He felt so tired._

" _Eme-" the last letter wouldn't come out._

 _He held tight to that name. The flames burning in his thoughts. He had to remember it, he had to. His mind screamed in pain as he spurred onwards, trying to get away from the grey city, whose buildings started to crumble down under the siege of fire._

 _The name on the tip of his tongue and everything else faded away. The flames were too strong and he was just too empty. What if the flames could fill the void? Maybe there was no other way. In one last attempt for survival, he turned back and embraced them._

 _They flickered angrily in response, trying to escape his grasp. Anger, happiness, sadness, hatred. A wide range of wild emotions filled him to the brim, threatening to consume him completely. He fought the flames and ate them. There was nothing to lose anymore. It felt like chaining a dangerous beast, one that could retaliate when he least expected it. He didn't care._

 _Once the fire was gone, the name was clear, and he spoke it out loud, "Emer."_

 _He felt power; It surrounded him in a warm glow. A muffled song could be heard in the distance. Not any song, but The Song. A hand helped him to get up. The flame still burning bright in his heart. The nightmare fading._

And then, Shard opened his eyes.

"He lives!" A voice shouted.

His vision cleared and everything came into place. He was lying on a bed in a small room. Professor Wu was looking at him intently with a worried frown. She then sighed and smiled, taking a step back. Close to her was standing Emer, her face the personification of worry itself, and Behind her, Kane and Rose smiled as he crossed their gazes. Everyone was evidently relieved.

"What happened?" Shard groaned.

Professor Wu hesitated for a few seconds and then replied, "Professor Falmea is currently investigating it. A Fire spell somehow went wrong and you were attacked by it."

Shard recalled it. The hostility of the dragon that came out of the fire basin.

"I guess it was my fault. Sorry about that," Kane apologized.

Shard shook his head. "Don't worry… But was I injured that badly?" he asked, looking down on his hands, and trying to move his body. He felt it stiff and his skin burning, though the pain felt distant, as if it belonged to someone else.

"It was nothing serious, just some minor burns. Professor Falmea cast the ward just in time," Professor Wu explained, "You should rest here for a little while, you will be free to go back to your room later. The sorting will take place tomorrow so you better take things easy today."

She eyed Emer, Kane, and Rose, then sighed and said, "You can stay for a few minutes, not more. Your friend needs to rest." Then walked away to another room, giving them some privacy.

As the professor left, Emer, Kane, and Rose approached the bed.

"That was totally unexpected. Kane's magic is as mad as him," Rose commented.

Kane didn't seem fazed by the comment and said, "It kind of slipped away from my control. One moment I was seeing stuff from my childhood, the next I was watching a city burning down."

Shard righted himself and asked loudly, "A burning city? Did you see it too? How was it? Was there a- Ouch," he placed his hand on the head as a sudden pain, ripped through it.

"Hey, are you alright? Should we call the Professor again?" Emer asked, already heading for the door.

"No, no don't worry. Everything is fine."

"Oh, I'm not so sure. You actually…" Emer trailed off. She kept her hand on the door handle and turned to look at him. She seemed at a loss for words.

"Stayed knocked out for a few hours. Wu herself didn't know why," Rose completed for her.

"A few hours… That felt-" Shard didn't continue. It actually felt like an eternity. He shook his head, "Kane, did you see a burning city too?"

"Oh yeah. Actually, I was burning it down!" Kane said with a smile.

"Wait, what!?" Shard almost shouted, remembering the terror and fear when he looked at the dragon.

"I was a huge dragon that was burning down the city. I didn't really like it, the people were screaming and everything was being destroyed… but I kind of liked it too. It was a weirdly satisfactory nightmare," Kane concluded.

Shard lowered his gaze. Did they have the same dream? Was Kane the dragon all along? The destruction... Those screams...

"A burning city? Satisfactory nightmares? Just what do you dream at night?! My nightmares usually involve homework, owls attempting to teach me Math, and more recently Marianne." Emer laughed.

Rose seemed deep in thought, "A burning city though. It reminds me of something…"

Kane shrugged his shoulders, "It looked like Dragonspyre to me."

Rose snapped her fingers and said "That's it. Dragonspyre! If I remember correctly-"

"Oh, you are awake at last!" Madame Falmea's voice interrupted them. The Fire professor walked inside the room with a sigh of relief. She held a box in her hands and dumped it down beside the bed. The contents made the sound of glass against glass as it was put down.

Kane stepped backwards, avoiding eye contact with her. She ignored him and addressed Shard, "I'm truly sorry for what happened to you. Meeting the professors shouldn't be a dangerous experience, it is meant to help you understand the basics of magic. Remember though, just as something dangerous happened today, it might happen tomorrow. Magic is never truly without risks, that is something you should keep in mind if you want to become a wizard."

The Professor then told Kane to come closer and started rummaging through the box. She took out a bunch of crystals and placed them on the bedside table.

"Do you remember what the crystal you chose looked like?" she asked.

"Um… It was similar to this one," Shard said, pointing at one of them. It wasn't shattered like the one he had chosen earlier that day, but it still resembled it in most ways.

"I see, A Dragonspyrean crystal… That doesn't explain everything …" Professor Falmea muttered to herself as she analyzed it. After a few seconds, she turned towards Kane and said, "Kane Fireblade, stop being so scared, it obviously wasn't your fault."

Kane didn't seem convinced and replied, "But it was my spell..."

Falmea sighed, "Unless your lifelong goal is to kill your friend, I don't see how that kind of spell could have backfired because of something you did. In this case, we must look for answers in the reagents themselves."

"Oh. It wasn't my fault then!" He cheered.

"You are not off the hook yet. You managed to summon an aspect of the Fire Titan during the most harmless of practical lessons. We'll have to check what caused it."

"Oh…" Kane choked.

"I truly hope this incident hasn't cooled off the flames that made you decide to become a wizard," Professor Falmea stated, switching her attention back to Shard. She did seem to care for his admittance in Ravenwood.

Shard didn't answer. How could he? He never had the passion for magic that the others had. though he could tell that there was a flame now. He felt it since he had woken up. It certainly wasn't his, and would attempt to rebel the first chance it got, but there was one nonetheless.

"I will go talk to professor Ambrose. There is still much to organize for tomorrow," Falmea said, before setting off with her box once again.

Professor Wu came in as professor Falmea made her way out, exchanging a small sign with her colleague. Without wasting time, she politely asked Kane, Emer, and Rose to leave Shard alone. Shard would have liked to ask them more about what did they know about the burning city, but words wouldn't come out. His head suddenly felt heavy and as soon as he came in contact with the pillow to rest, he was fast asleep.

* * *

 _ **Fragment of a Wish**_

* * *

"What is it, Dalia?" Ambrose asked, barely lifting his eyes from the parchment.

"It's about the new boy. The one that you told me to keep an eye on," Falmea replied, walking down the office and sitting in front of the headmaster.

Ambrose lifted his gaze in curiosity, "Did you discover anything new about him?"

"Not exactly, something interesting did happen though."

"What is it?"

Madame Falmea recounted everything that had happened during her lesson. She told him about the other students, how Emer had summoned a tree of fire, how most of them didn't manage to tap into their innermost desires, and how Kane had managed to somehow summon an aspect of the Fire Titan with no effort at all.

"The Fire Titan? I know the rumors about the Fireblades, but this is quite unexpected, even for one coming from that family... And it happened inside Ravenwood of all places!" Ambrose exclaimed, completely taken by the Fire professor's story.

"That is not all. Once summoned, the Titan attacked the boy as if it meant to kill him," she said.

"I see, even the Fire Titan wants to destroy him," Ambrose shook his head with pity-filled eyes, cleaning up his monocle with a tissue.

"What do you mean by 'even the Fire Titan'?" Falmea asked.

Ambrose sighed and rested his weight on the chair, "Dalia, do you remember what I told you about fate, long ago?"

"Of course."

"Imagine now. What if the one responsible for your own destiny. The one narrating your own story, wants you dead, no matter what."

Falmea brought her hands to her mouth as her eyes widened. After a few seconds, she recovered from the shock and replied, "I wonder how come he is still alive. There is no way to escape fate."

"Indeed. Perhaps things are not as they look like. Do you sense his mana?" Ambrose reflected out loud.

"Oh… now that I think of it. No, not really. He does feel almost like-"

"Indeed."

A sudden knocking on the door distracted them from their conversation. Ambrose waved his hand to open it as he said, "Come in."

"Good afternoon, Headmaster Ambrose, oh and Professor Falmea," said a girl as she slowly walked into the room with a staff held tight on her chest.

"Hello, Susie. How did it go?" Ambrose asked.

"Um… I took notes," Susie replied, taking out a small notepad and gently turning its pages. She cleared her throat and said, "he didn't say much. Shall I read it out loud?"

"Please do," Ambrose encouraged.

"Alright, he said: Beware Master Ambrose! Beware of Malistaire! Find the one who can defeat him! That one is the savior of Wizard City!" Susie finished reading it and lifted her gaze," is this a prophecy? Is there really somebody who can face Malistaire and save everyone?"

"So that's what Bartleby had to say? Not the outcome I was quite expecting. I thought he at least would not be obsessed by that madman as we all are," Ambrose said, scratching his head, "I will need some time to think about these words, and I trust you will keep this matter secret. I am unsure whether what Bartleby said is a real prophecy, or a cry for vengeance. Since he lost his eye to Malistaire, his judgement became clouded."

"Oh… That might be it, after all. I won't tell a soul," Susie said.

Ambrose made a small pause, then added "On a more down to earth matter, how are the investigations on Triton Avenue proceeding? Do you need any more help?"

Susie blushed and said defensively, "We are still on it. There is no reason to send more wizards on this quest. The other roads might get attacked too. Artur, Duncan, and I are more than enough there. Yeah… I mean… Artur did manage to get himself kidnapped at one point…"

She lowered her gaze, then continued in a louder and more determined tone, "but if it didn't happen, we wouldn't have discovered that the Harvest Lord was behind it all! We are still on his traces. I'm sure that if we find it, we'll find Mister Stormheart too."

"Are you sure of it young wizard?" Ambrose questioned.

"Yeah, that's my theory. Those medallions at the Fairgrounds are connected to the Harvest Lord, I recognize his doing."

"I see. Thank you for your efforts, Susie, Wizard City needs wizards like you."

"Th-Thank you, headmaster," Susie stuttered. She then walked out of the room, disappearing from sight.

"Will she be able to make it? They are only in three out there," Falmea wondered out loud.

"She is a very powerful diviner, if someone can help Triton Avenue it will be her. Besides, most of our wizards are busy tracking down Malistaire himself. He shouldn't be able to stir much trouble without us knowing."

"I still stand by my opinion on that, headmaster," The Fire professor replied, putting great emphasis on the last word.

"Yes, Dalia, I wouldn't expect you to agree with the city council, but I trust you understand we are treading in dangerous waters."

"I am aware of it. What I have trouble agreeing on, is the insane solution of sending most of the best fighters away. What if we are attacked? You know how powerful he is…"

"It is a possibility, Dalia, but we also must prepare for the eventuality that he will not, opting for a different target. We have a large enough number of wizards to fight back, if necessary. Problems are arising in many worlds as of now, it would be foolish to ignore the pleas for help of others."

Dalia didn't reply, her figure standing stiff, clearly showing her discontent.

Ambrose kept talking in a gentle tone, "Dragonspyre's name is still whispered in fear throughout the Spiral. Wizard City itself is feared to be a danger to the other worlds, and to tell the truth, we have never truly recovered our reputation since Morganthe's reign of terror. If Malistaire is up to no good, it is in our best interest to avoid other worlds getting involved, he was our Death professor after all. Our responsibility."

"Ravenwood has done much good in the Spiral, I can't believe that a single student and a long gone empire would drag down Ravenwood's name, whereas the hundreds of graduates that have averted all those catastrophes, are barely acknowledged," Falmea's voice was almost a whisper, though each word she uttered carried with it an explosion of anger.

"She was the first student," Ambrose corrected, "and my greatest failure as a teacher." He didn't speak for a few seconds, the air filled with untold regret. It happened often, whenever he spoke of Morganthe.

"Besides, people remember what affects them most. We should be proud of our students, who didn't give those worlds time to even realize they were in danger that the danger had already passed," he continued as if the conversation never paused.

"On that, you find me on your side," Falmea conceded with a small smile."He shouldn't be back soon anyway, not after facing you directly. Any idea on what he was looking for? To attack the tower so close to the sorting date was a risky move on his part."

"Risky indeed, but I wouldn't be too hasty to say he left the city, he could be hiding anywhere, the snowy wastes of Polaris are as good a choice as a secret hideout in Wizard City. Regarding what he was looking for…" Ambrose paused, "He tried to force his way in the Life section, but the golems found him out before he could open the door."

"The Life section? I thought he sneaked in there to get something from the Death section. It would have been the obvious thing for a necromancer seeking greater power…"

"Indeed, we assumed too much without knowing the full picture," Ambrose said, sounding as if he was scolding himself. "He might try again, and he will think we'd keep a tight watch."

Falmea's hair seemed to flicker in anger as she narrowed her eyes, "So you do think he will attack us after all! The more I think about it, the least I understand his actions, wasn't he content enough after tearing the Death school out of the world? I even tried to look for traces of the ward but there are none, he tore it away with the entire building!"

Ambrose sighed, "I have my reasons to think he doesn't care for those dusty old tomes in the Death School anymore, not since they failed him, and neither was he aiming for the barrier. The disappearance of the Death School might have been caused by a fit of uncontrolled anger."

Nodding absently, Falmea tightened her grip on her wand, an almost imperceptible movement that spoke louder than any word she could have said. "And Golem Tower might be the next target. Should we put more defenses around it? Now that we lost Malcolm's help, golems might as well turn against us for what little do we know. Malcolm has always been a lover of the unexpected, and we can't count on his creations to defend it, now that he is gone."

"Defenses won't stop Malistaire's madness. We shouldn't forget that our job is to protect Bartleby first and foremost. I am willing to sacrifice Golem tower if he plans a large-scale attack. As long as he isn't aiming directly for the Book of Secrets, we should be able to deal with whatever he is going to steal."

"That makes sense, though I would prefer to avoid the tower's secrets to fall into such hands," Falmea nodded reluctantly. "I'll be off for the meantime, I have to prepare tomorrow's lessons." Without adding anything more, she closed the door behind herself.

Once the door closed, Ambrose moved his gaze to his crystal ball. Swirling inside it, the image of a girl with brown hair and emerald green eyes. She was walking down the road with two other children. A red-haired boy that was intent on telling a joke, and a blonde haired girl who rolled her eyes once she heard it.

"I am sorry for putting such a burden on your shoulders, Emer," Ambrose said, "But I do think you are Wizard City's only hope."

* * *

 **And that is all for now. This chapter was quite difficult with all those discussions… I'm not sure if I'm any good writing them, but I do what I can.** **The story must go on!**

 ** **There are many things diverging from canon in this chapter, like Susie, Duncan and Artur actually making some progress on their own, how other worlds see Wizard City, and some interesting talks on Golem Tower. If you want clarifications just ask in a review or PM me, I'd be happy to reply if it isn't a spoiler.****

 **Some of you might have noticed a lack of the Balance School in the Meet the Professor tour. The answer is, yes, it was done on purpose. (You get a virtual cookie if you did)**

 **Arthur Wethersfield has yet to take his luggage and step through the portal door in Fragment of a Wish's timeline, and I assure you I have all but forgotten you, Sorcerers. Be patient and hold up from judging too soon, you might not have enough pips to kill me yet. :P**

 **Next chapter will come out next week, this time I'm sure it will. I have already written part of it and though it needs some major editing, I should be fine.**

 **If you want, do leave a review, constructive criticism is welcome, and helps the little hamster in my head to run faster!**


	15. The Book of Secrets

**Hey everyone! This chapter risked getting out tomorrow, but I managed to avoid that. It took loads of editing and some parts were rewritten many times… and I still think it could have come out better. Which meant, you would have had no hope of ever seeing it, so I just gathered courage and published anyway, lol.**

 **I hope you'll enjoy it!**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

 **And Let's continue with the story, shall we?**

 **(Updated 05/23/2018)**

* * *

 **Chapter 15 – The Book of Secrets**

* * *

"Good morning!"

Shard woke up with a start. He blinked his eyes a couple of times before remembering where he was. The room came into view, with its floral patterns on the walls and some beds lined up against it. Professor Wu stood in front of him with a smile.

"You should head to Golem Tower. The sorting is about to begin," she said softly.

"Oh, right…" Shard replied, sitting up with a bit of difficulty. The pain had completely disappeared, leaving its place to a tingling feeling all over his skin. He resisted the urge to scratch and asked the professor, "um… have I slept here all night?"

Professor Wu nodded, "You needed some rest. I decided to let you sleep here, after all, there was no reason for you to walk all the way back to the dormitory."

Shard nodded back, grateful for the Life professor's kindness. After locating his shoes, and taking his hat from the bedside table, he was ready to go. It took a simple Flick of Professor Wu's fan for the bed the sheets to come undone, flying inside a container in the corner of the room. Every sign of a person ever sleeping there, completely erased.

"Good luck with the sorting!" she said as Shard made his way out of the room. For some reason unknown to him, Shard found himself smiling back and uttering his thanks once more, unsure whether he was even heard.

The small room was connected to a larger one. Shields and banners decorated the green walls, each of them sporting the leaf representing the Life School. Swiftly, Shard made his way down the aisle, surpassing the empty chairs and desks without giving them a second glance. His mind set on finding his friends.

The door creaked as Shard pulled it open. A stream of light blinded him and he closed his eyes in retaliation. After a few seconds he began opening them again and blinking out the unease, getting used to the sunny day that was awaiting him just outside the door. The fresh aroma of grass filled his nostrils, birds sang happily on Bartleby's branches, and he could swear that colors were brighter than how he remembered them.

His hand involuntarily found its way to his chest. The flame was burning bright inside his heart, bringing with it the emotion of being in a world full of magic. He finally understood why everyone made such a big deal of magic. It was something that connected them all. Magic was neither bad nor good, it was simply something that existed in the spiral, maybe even keeping it together.

He wondered why was he thinking of such things and shook his head. There was something odd with his abrupt change of heart, but maybe having a good night's rest had helped him get over his fears. The alternative was far more scary, and he pushed it aside. There was no way that magic could affect his better judgement so deeply, could it?

Even if he still had such thoughts though, for once he felt ready to face whatever the day would throw at him. He didn't feel helpless at all, maybe he even felt eager to start. Start what, he didn't know.

Shard walked down the road, arriving at the square where Ambrose had held his speech. The symbols of all the schools were still there, each one of them held a meaning to him after the first introductory lessons. He recognized Myth, Life, Ice, Storm, Fire, and Death. His gaze lingered a few seconds more on Death than on the Others as it was the only one with a crack running through it. Weirdly enough, he didn't find it as scary as it looked in the earlier days.

Shard searched his pockets for the infamous brochure that had guided him in the first days of his stay in Wizard City. He sighed. He must have forgotten it in his room, and without it, there was no way he could find Golem Tower.

As he started walking inside the dormitory, a sudden voice made him stop and turn on his heel, "Good morning Shard! Are you feeling better?" Emer, who had just walked out of the girl's dormitory, waved at him and came closer with a worried smile, "No, really… Do you feel okay? You were almost eaten by that fire-dragon-thingy."

"I'm fine… I feel completely fine today," he replied.

"Okay then, don't push yourself too hard. Incidents with magic can be very painful…"

"Hey! Weren't you the one who told me I was over-reacting when it happened to you?"

"Oh well… you see… Look, it's Rose! Let's go greet her!" Emer said, avoiding the discussion.

"Hi, sorry for being late. The big day has finally arrived…" Rose said, shifting her gaze uncomfortably around the area.

"Come on, cheer up Rose! We'll finally get to see that Book of Wonders!" Emer toothy grin betrayed her excitement.

"Book of Secrets," Rose corrected, shuffling her feet and in an almost inaudible mumble she added, "let's hope everything goes well."

Emer snorted, "Of course, everything will go well! Why wouldn't it?"

"Let's just say that whenever I get closer to what I want, usually something gets in the way," Rose replied, shrugging it off with a nervous laugh.

"Be positive about it and good things will come to you," Emer said.

"Ignore the harsh truth and barricade myself in delusions of being lucky? I can do that," Rose said, smirking back.

Shard smiled too. It was evident that both his friends couldn't wait to start learning magic, and maybe deep down he was happy to give it a chance too.

"Do any of you know where Golem tower is?" he asked.

Rose bit her lip after rummaging in her pockets for a few seconds, "Forgot the map, should have known this would happen."

"Oh, does that mean what I think it means?" Emer giggled.

Rose looked at her questioningly and Shard rolled his eyes, " No chance you'll give it to me so we'll be there without further deviations right?"

Emer jokingly stuck her tongue out and said,"Not a chance. I waited long enough for something like this to happen! I can drag you to random places with my all-powerful brochure!"

"Emer," Shard said.

"No, you won't take it from me-"

"Emer."

"-I'll drag you two to the shopping district since we have some time-"

"Emer."

"- And I'll realize my dream of buying a jar-

"Emer."

"- to imprison sprites-"

"Emer."

"-and I'll finally have my revenge on Daisy!"

"Emer!"

"What?!"

Shard sighed and pointed to a familiar redhead that was waving at them from the tunnel leading to the commons with a bright smile, "Kane knows the way."

"Oh."

And thus Emer's plan failed miserably and her dream of buying a jar never came to fruition.

They walked down to the commons and turned right, heading towards the Fairegrounds. Emer was quick to recover from her short-term depression and started to chat about what school she would have liked to be part of. It appeared that she would have liked to be anything but Death, and Shard understood her reasoning perfectly. Kane continued on and on about wanting to be a Pyromancer as usual, and Rose didn't express her preference. Shard started to seriously think on which school he wanted to be in, conscious that once he was sorted, there was little chance of changing school. He hoped for something that didn't focus on blasting stuff or scaring people out of their minds. Fire, Storm, and Death were out of the question. He really could have gone with anything but those.

They headed through a tunnel and found themselves in Golem court. Shard looked in front of him and saw a crowd of students in front of a tall tower, which he guessed was Golem tower. The chattering of excited students welcomed them as they got closer. Everyone was talking about the schools, but as soon as they joined the crowd, some students turned around and pointed at Shard, whispering something.

"Wow, people are still talking about it," Kane commented.

"What do you expect?" Rose said.

Shard looked around a bit more to make sure that it was indeed him the one at the centre of the whispering, then he asked, "What are they whispering about?"

"Nothing, don't worry," Emer replied with a smile.

Rose glared at Emer in disapproval. "Emer, we should tell him."

Emer eyed the crowd suspiciously and didn't say anything for a few seconds. She then inhaled and nodded, "You see…" she paused, "When the dragon tried to have you for lunch yesterday, some people started to spread some rumors about it. They say it's a bad sign. I even heard someone say that you better renounce studying magic or something bad is going to happen to all of us."

Shard tilted his head slightly in surprise, "Why?"

Rose tried to explain it a bit better. "Many students come from wizarding families. They are taught to believe in signs since they are small so-"

"You mean that the fact that some random magic tried to eat me randomly, for them is the sign that something bad is about to happen? And to avoid that… I shouldn't study magic?"

"Yeah, that's it. I'm sorry… It is probably the fact that it was an aspect of the Fire Titan," Kane said.

"The Fire Titan... as in the big dragon, source of all Fire Magic?"

Rose nodded, biting her lip before she explained in a low and serious tone of voice. "Yep... you were basically denied to approach the basin by the source of Fire Magic itself. It is pretty clear compared to the usual convoluted signs and happenings wizards try to decipher every day."

"I'm sorry, Shard..." Kane's apology came unexpected as the boy shuffled his feet and avoided looking at Shard directly.

"Why are you apologizing? Professor Falmea told you that it wasn't your fault," Shard tried to reassure his friend.

"Listen. I have summoned that thing, so I am responsible for it. I'll try to clean this mess up at least," Kane said.

"Woah! Who are you and what have you done with Kane?" Emer exclaimed.

"Hey! I can be responsible too… sometimes," Kane grinned.

Shard nodded and thanked him. Kane was a walking bomb, ready to explode and make a mess at any moment, but he wanted to enjoy the mess with his friend, not cause problems to them. He was far more concerned with people thinking it would be bad for him to study magic. For how silly it sounded, he had had the same exact thought.

The door opened and everyone entered the tower. Shard gasped in surprise as the room came into view. The place was oddly similar to the one where Malistaire's duel versus Ambrose had taken place. The only thing that made him doubt it, was the lack of burns on the walls and floor. Shard remembered all too well how the exchange of spells had devastated the place. Could magic fix it up just as easily? Was it another place altogether?

Merle Ambrose stood at the centre of the room. A bookstand was near him, and on it, a voluminous tome was wide open, revealing ancient letters in a language that Shard could not read.

"Welcome young wizards. Let the Book of Secrets find your true calling," Ambrose began. "As you may already know, the book will take into consideration everything about you. If you find yourself in a school that doesn't satisfy you at first, give it a chance. You might come to realize that it might be your true calling."

He cleared his throat and continued, "Many young wizards in the past chose the wrong school for them. Needless to say, they regretted it when lessons started to get harder. Remember this, young wizards, it is magic that chooses you, not the reverse. For magic stems from many sources, and not all of them are suitable for everyone."

Gamma flew inside the room through an open window, carrying with him a parchment. Ambrose thanked him and announced, "I will now call you by name. When it's your turn, please come forth and read the book, everything will come by itself."

He didn't seem to call the names in alphabetical order. They were probably arranged randomly or with another scale in mind. The first one was Alex Stormheart. Shard paid attention as the boy walked forward, stopped in front of the book, and started reading. With a zapping sound, the pages of the book of secrets started to turn wildly, as if they were moved by a strong wind. Alex didn't seem bothered by it, his eyes fixed on the page as if he was still reading it.

Pages started to fly out of the book, flying all around Alex as the writing on them glowed. They moved around him in circles, joining together mid-air in front of him. In no time they became a stack of papers, and the outermost pages turned into a dark purple cover.

The newly formed book, bound in a dark purple cover with a triumphant Storm symbol on it, slowly descended down for Alex to take. Alex grabbed it tight and relaxed in a dry smile, confirming that the result was exactly the one he hoped for.

"Ugh… he did get Storm after all," Kane complained.

After Alex, others tried their hand with the Book of Secrets. Some people needed a few seconds of reading for the book to react, while others needed a bit more time.

The produced books, or 'Spellbooks' as Rose called them in a breathless, reverent whisper, were colored after one of the six school patterns with the school symbol encased in a spiral, leaving no doubt regarding the student's school.

"Emer, come here please," Ambrose said.

Swiftly Emer made her way to the book and read it. Instantly the book reacted, producing a green book with the Life symbol on it. It had been the faster response yet. Emer cradled the book in her arms and came back to them, showing it to them.

"So you are Life, after all," Kane said not hiding a tinge of disappointment.

"Yes. I didn't think that I would be, honestly," Emer replied.

"As if there was anything else you could be. Should I remind you how you created a tree… with flames?!" Rose said.

"Oh, right. That little detail..."

Next, It was Kane's turn. The young Fireblade walked up to the book and started reading. From where Shard stood, he could have sworn that his friend was holding his breath as he did so. In no time, flames erupted from the book as new pages formed. The ending result, a red tome with a Fire symbol on it.

"Yes! Fire! Fame! Glory! Saving worlds!" Kane exclaimed happily in their ears as he got back to their group.

Rose shook her head." Tone it down a bit before you manage to summon an impossibly dangerous creature out of nowhere again."

"Hey!" Kane replied, but before he could say anything more, it was Rose's turn.

"Rosemary Green," Ambrose said, scanning the crowd.

Rose blushed, her confidence disappearing in an instat as she stumbled forward under the gazes of the other students. She hesitated at first, then stuck her eyes on the page as if her life depended on it. Nothing happened for a few seconds. Those seconds turned into minutes.

Everyone was intently staring at her. She was there in front of them, the book motionless as she read it. Her legs trembled. Another minute. The crowd was restless now. They started to whisper. Shard crossed his fingers. He wanted her to succeed even though he had known her for very little time. Was there the possibility of failing? He hoped there wasn't.

Just as Ambrose cleared his throat, the book reacted. The pages slowly scattered like leaves in a gentle breeze and formed a new book. It had a golden and blue cover, and the Myth symbol was engraved on top of the spiral. Rose breathed out her tension, trembling at every step until she safely found her place near Emer, trying to attract less attention to herself as possible.

A bunch of names later, it was Shard's turn. He walked to the book, his feet heavy. He felt the glances coming from the other students. They wondered if something similar as the dragon incident would happen this time. He gulped, standing in front of the ancient tome. With a quick glance, he saw Ambrose's encouraging smile. It was Ambrose himself that wanted him in his school. He came from a world with no magic, was it right for him to learn it?

Staring down at the book, a realization struck him. Rosemary came from a world where magic wasn't practiced much. Was that the reason for her taking so much time? Emer wasn't originally from Greyfell, that might have been why she took no time at all. There was no going back now. He slowly moved his gaze to the book, hoping with all himself that he was going to be chosen by a school. The page was incomprehensible, that was his first thought.

Nothing happened. Seconds passed. A minute. It was like Rose all over again. Another minute. He felt himself blushing under the stares of the other students. He breathed. He couldn't afford to be kicked out. The headmaster had made it clear on their first talk. He had two choices: Going back to Greyfell, or staying in Wizard City as a student at Ravenwood.

For what seemed to be the hundredth time, he tried to decipher the writing. The letters were there, even though he wasn't sure whether to call them letters or simply symbols. They covered the page with their unknown meaning, the book unmoving until he managed to understand how to read them.

Failing to become a student meant going back to Greyfell, his mind reminded him as he felt panic surging with every second slipping past him. His eyes darted like crazy around the room. There must be a trick. Something. Another minute.

He started to think about random things, hoping to find anything that could help him out. Meeting the professors had taught him that every magic had its own philosophy, and each one had its own way of achieving an objective. He had to know himself, his strengths and weaknesses, in order to practice magic. Another minute. The whispering in the crowd grew louder. Someone suggested to skip him. Ambrose hadn't replied yet. Shard's chest boiled in anger.

 _Why won't it react to me?_ he thought letting his bitterness invade his mind.

Did he have to abandon Emer and live the rest of his life forgotten by everyone? He didn't want to. He wasn't invisible in Wizard City. He recalled the many adventures he had since he had come to Wizard City. Facing Malistaire, surviving Kane's destructive ideas in the shopping district, Unicorn park, meeting the professors, and his encounter with the cat. His mind was suddenly locked into a whirlpool of chaotic thoughts. The burning city. The flame. He felt it inside. It reacted.

The letters glowed golden, their meaning clear. It felt like multiple people tried to speak to him all at once, invading his thoughts and asking him countless questions about who he was. Letters passed in front of his eyes faster than he could even process them, yet he read every word. The words were alive, almost like each of them was its own person, whose sole purpose was finding more about him. As soon as a question was formed, a reply was ready in his mind without him even attempting to answer, the talk was instantaneous and long at the same time.

Flames burst from the book of secrets and pages flew around the room. Shard groaned as he felt the heat envelop him in an angry flicker. The pages joined together. The invisible questioners became more insistent, some of them shouted at him and some even seemed lost, not understanding his answers and asking more questions that proved utterly useless. The cover formed and the Spellbook was made. He stumbled backwards and fell on the ground, keeping the tome tight.

He slowly inspected it. The cover was red, but unlike Kane's spell-book's. Shard's was burnt and falling to pieces. It seemed to have barely survived an inferno. A Fire symbol on top of a spiral greeted him as he checked the cover. Of all the schools, this one was one that came out completely unexpected. In disbelief, he muttered "Fire?"

* * *

 **And yes. I'll stop here for now.**

 **Important news! Next week it will be Fragment of a Wish's birthday, and I was thinking of making a one-shot or something like that. The conversation went like this though:**

 **me: It's Fragment of a Wish's birthday! It's Fragment of a Wish's birthday! I need to write lots of chapters and one-shots for it! Loads of chapters and one-shots! While I'm at it, I'll finish the story and the hundreds of chapters that are left to write all in one sitting! It will be awesome!**

 **My voice of reason: Oh really? And you'll manage to do that and all the other stuff we have to do next week? Pft, your long-term planning is terrible goxeris, I know you'll procrastinate 'till the last second, then crawl back to me for some non-existent clever solution. I'm actually a bit tired of repeating 'I told you so!' over and over, and I do really like saying that…**

 **Me: Oh come on. We can do it, I just have to not procrastinate… That's easy!**

 **My voice of reason: You do know that next week there is literally no free time, do you? There is no way you can magically get more of it to actually write. You should have thought about it earlier… sigh, I told you so last week.**

 **Me:*widens eyes in realization, starts panicking and proceeds to run like a headless chicken around the room***

 **And that is how I decided that I'll try to push forth next chapter, but I won't promise anything.**

 **If you want to, do leave a review! I appreciate constructive criticism and I really hope this chapter was of your liking, if not, tell me what you didn't like so I can improve!**


	16. Seeking Answers

**A/N: I never thought this day would come… HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRAGMENT OF A WISH!**

 **There have been many ups and downs as I worked on it, but here I am, a year from when I pushed that publish button, and I'm still writing!**

 **Honestly, I was never one for huge projects with lots of commitment required, but thanks to the reader's support and lots of help from friends, I somehow managed to keep updating. Awesome, right? :D**

 **I'm also a bit disappointed though. In truth, I have written very little of what I have in mind and I thought I'd be better off by now, but I am very proud of attempting this crazy project in the first place. It is really helping me out with my English, yay!**

 **Hopefully, I'll be able to write way more than 16 chapters before next birthday, this story surely demands lots of them… We are just scratching the surface people! :)**

 **Thank you to all those who reviewed, faved, followed or got interested in this story. I would have probably kept the story to myself if it wasn't for your great support.**

 **A shout out to Iron-Ninja: Yeah, the book of secrets did indeed choose him as a Fire student, quite weird if you ask me. Shard just doesn't seem the type.**

 **But enough of my ramblings. Let me put the usual disclaimer:**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor its character's, only my OCs.**

 **And let the story continue!**

* * *

 **Chapter 16 – Seeking Answers**

* * *

It was hot. Too hot. Lava stirred lazily inside the fire school basin in the corner, its heat made the class's temperature rise like that of an over-sized oven. A stylized red flame, the symbol of the Fire School, was engraved on banners and shields hanging on the walls. Red and yellow triumphed wherever Shard's sight fell, giving the impression of being stuck in the middle of a raging inferno. To complete it all, the windows were tightly shut, so as to avoid the high temperature inside from dropping even by a slight margin.

A piece of chalk wrote by itself on a blackboard, accompanied by the sound of quills scraping on parchment. Professor Falmea walked back and forth the central aisle with grace, making sure everyone was focused on taking notes.

Shard wiped the small droplets of sweat that formed on his forehead with his sleeve, glanced to the blackboard once more, and started to write again. The Umpteenth sentence about the countless theoretical concepts behind Fire magic slowly formed as he moved the quill left to right, his untrained hand spilling ink everywhere as the words were painstakingly put on paper.

As soon as Shard managed to write down the last letter, the swish of an eraser announced the disappearance of the words written in Falmea's own neat handwriting. The chalk quickly covered the empty black surface with another phrase.

"If the Mind is like a candle, the Heart is like the sun. Keep this in mind, young Pyromancers, for it is the motto of our school," Professor Falmea said, breaking the silence.

After she made sure that everyone copied it down, she continued, "Emotion is at our core, and our magic depends on it greatly. The burning flame of passion was the key to many great achievements in the past, and it will continue to be so in the future."

Madame Falmea seemed to weigh all the class down with her gaze, "Sometimes that flame burns so bright that you might even get burned from it yourself, so beware, young Pyromancers, don't get carried away by your emotions and lose sight of who you really are."

The lecture continued with a more in-depth talk on the origins of Fire magic. Falmea's words were clear and concise, taking her time to explain the many facets of the first Fire magic users; the dragons, rulers of the land.

The hot air in the class seemed to slowly seep under Shard's skin, the flame in his chest growing larger and his mouth dry. He turned to his right to see if his friend was faring any better.

Kane was doing some doodles, already bored with the theory before the first hour had passed. Shard had tried to ask him about the place called Dragonspyre, but words never came out. They kept getting stuck in his throat halfway through.

Turning back to Madame Falmea, he wondered if he could ask her to exit the room for a while. The feeling of having a wild fire inside of his chest wasn't pleasant.

Madame Falmea continued to speak about the dragons and Shard didn't dare to utter a single word, his hand trying to keep up with taking notes. There was no way he was going to miss any of it. He needed to succeed in class if he wanted to stay at Ravenwood and there was no way he was going to miss that lesson, even if it meant catching fire there and then. Ambrose had given him the chance, and he wasn't going to give him any reason to send him back.

Ignoring his desire for water, he continued to pay attention, wondering whether the Book of Secrets had chosen the right school for him. Considering that the origin of the school was tied to a very big war, he doubted it. Fire magic was practically a weapon. One of the three that shattered the first world.

Time never seemed to pass, but Shard endured it, and in the end, the lesson was finally over. After the bell rang, Shard and Kane made their way outside, and in a few minutes, they were in the square in front of Bartleby.

"I thought that we would have started with spells, not all that historical stuff!" Kane complained.

"I think it's for the best. At least we know where magic comes from," Shard replied.

"That's simple, it comes from the wand when you cast the spell. That's all the theoretical stuff I need!"

Rose's voice reached them from the back, joining the conversation, "You can't really think that waving a wand is all there is to magic. There is lots of theory behind each spell."

Shard and Kane turned around to face the blonde girl, her robe golden and blue in the colors of the Myth school.

" Oh, it's you, Rose, why did you come from there? Isn't Myth the other way?" Kane asked, disregarding her words completely.

"It is… I sort of went the wrong way…"

"But isn't a chasm on the other side? Were you attempting to fall off?" Kane laughed.

"Let's just say I wanted to throw a rock into the outer void to see what happened…" she rebuked slightly flushing. "Emer hasn't arrived yet?"

"She's down there, taking it slowly, as usual," Shard said, pointing at Emer, who was having a conversation with another Life student.

With a wide smile and a friendly wave, she separated from her interlocutor and approached them with sparkly eyes. "Hey, how were your lessons? Life is so much fun! Professor Wu made us share some stories of ourselves."

"Really? We mostly studied theory and a war… Falmea kept on talking forever," Kane said.

"It wasn't that bad actually, she is very good at giving lectures, although the class is too hot for my likings," Shard added.

Rose sighed, "at least they are doing their job! Professor Drake didn't explain anything at all! He said that we wouldn't last a week anyway, so there was no point in losing his precious time. He gave us half a book to study… due tomorrow!"

"Oh," Shard, Kane, and Emer said in unison.

Rose seemed to be on the verge of crying. "Yeah, I'll need to study a lot this afternoon."

Emer placed her hand on the other girl's shoulder and said softly, "Rose, that's crazy. You shouldn't even try to do something like that. That professor is completely nuts."

"I know, but I really don't have a choice, there is a test on all that stuff tomorrow morning! I don't want for something to happen like with the entrance exam…" Placing a hand on her mouth as if she said too much, she looked at them.

"What's with the entrance exam?" Kane asked.

"N-nothing. Actually, I have to go study now. Bye."

Almost stumbling on the pavement, she literally ran to the girl's dormitory. The door closing behind her after she used most of her weight to open it.

"Um, what's with the entrance exam? Was there even one?" Emer asked, eyeing the door to the dormitory as if it had eaten her friend alive.

Kane laughed at the question, "Oh yeah, as if you could even forget about it. I think Ambrose really upped his standards this year."

Shard's and Emer's expressions must have conveyed how lost they felt, because Kane asked, "you did sit the exam, right?"

Emer and Shard shook their head under Kane's surprised gaze. He signaled them to follow and they walked through the tunnel and all the way through the commons in complete silence, arriving in front of the headmaster's office. On the wall, close to the door, there was a bulletin board, filled to the brim with notices and lists cramped with names.

Kane made sure that no one was around before saying, "you are telling me you haven't sat the exam? This is something quite serious."

Shard read the title of the large list out loud, "Ravenwood's entrance exam results." He skimmed through the names and saw Alex's right at the top and Kane's somewhere in the middle.

"We haven't done anything like that. Ambrose didn't even mention an exam!" Emer said, approaching the list.

Shard remembered Alex talking about it. He hadn't given it much thought then, Kane's weirdness had distracted him enough for the rest of the day.

"That's really rare you know? And possibly even bad," Kane said.

Emer turned to look at him and asked, "Why?" Her tone put forth all the worries she usually kept well-hidden.

"There are limited spots. We might have actually taken the place of someone else," Shard concluded.

"What? Wait, I see our names here," Emer said, pointing in the middle of the list.

"So did you sleep during it or what?" Kane asked, seeming genuinely concerned by the turn of events.

"That, or Ambrose didn't make us sit it at all… and wrote the names anyway," Shard mumbled, recalling that single question Ambrose had asked the day of his arrival.

"I do remember that there has been a mistake with the list… could that be connected to it?"

Shard had a very bad suspicion about all of it."What kind of mistake?" he asked.

"Mr. Lincoln seemed to have counted the available spots wrong. There was actually one more, so the one right below the red line was allowed to get enrolled."

Emer gasped, pointing at a name just below the red line which separated who had been accepted to who hadn't. Right below it, a name stood out.

"It's Rose!" Shard exclaimed.

"He let you in without testing you, huh? I don't really know why the headmaster did that," Kane scratched his head. "Better keep this secret for now."

When both Shard and Emer looked at him questioningly, he quickly added, "Everyone studied very hard to pass the exam, and some people would be really angry if they discover it…"

"I sort of understand why they would. I mean, they had to prove something, but we got a free pass… And you? Aren't you angry that Ambrose spared us from the exam?" Emer said.

"Not really. We are talking about Ambrose here. He never does anything bad... I guess…"

"Very well then," Emer nodded and approached the door, knocking to announce her presence. Without waiting for anyone to say anything, she shrugged, almost as if she was justifying herself, "I'm sure he has a reason for it, but I want to talk to him about it."

They waited for a while without any answer coming from the office. Emer had her arms crossed over her chest as she continued to stare down at the door as if it would break if she did so long enough.

"Maybe he's gone somewhere to do powerful wizard business?" Kane offered, stopping Emer from knocking once more. "You can't lose the entire afternoon in front of a door, just comeback later."

"Okay."

Turning back, everyone walked out of the office's courtyard. The sound of Emer's shoes scraping on the road, accompanying them as the smile she had kept most of the day had dropped to a frown. "Do you think she's afraid of being kicked out?"

"Maybe, being kicked out of Ravenwood isn't unheard of, it's actually pretty frequent," Kane replied.

"I see… and since she got in by cutting it pretty close, she is scared that she won't be good enough."

"Emer, aren't you assuming a bit too much? She just said she needed to study, and her professor has very high standards," Shard said.

"I don't think that's all there is to it. She really was stressed out about it," she simply replied with a shrug.

Kane nodded. "Let's hope she'll get over it soon then. She really can't blame anyone but Ambrose himself about it. He went out of his way to do something like that."

"Yeah, he surely did… And his behavior raises a very important question," Shard added, stopping in his tracks to look back at the office, whose walls bathed in the afternoon light.

"It does?" Kane asked.

"Yeah. Why does he want us here so much?"

That question soon sparked a conversation on Ambrose's motives of doing what he was doing, but given that nobody knew much about the oold headmaster, nothing came out of it.

Eventually, Kane got bored about the long talk, declaring he had an headache and was heading home. Shard and Emer waved him goodbye and found their way back to the headmaster's office, hoping to find him inside.

"Alright, Emer, since you won't be able to talk to Ambrose anytime soon, can you help me out with some research?" Shard asked.

Emer stopped her knocking. The office was still as silent as before."Alright, how do we know what to look for? We can't exactly say that we are looking for information on a black cat."

Shard considered all the things he wanted to investigate. First and foremost, there was the black cat and its connection to Malistaire, something he deemed pretty important.

Then there were the visions of that place, Dragonspyre. Shard had no idea whether that place was truly called like that, but Kane and Rose seemed to know something about it.

The third thing he wanted to know more about, was Malcolm Stormheart himself, and what was really going on in Wizard City.

Emer didn't know about the other things, so Shard was better off investigating the black cat directly. Dragonspyre was something he didn't want to think about. He was genuinely scared of what he had seen in those visions. It felt real. Almost as if he had been there when the dragon had attacked. Almost as if he had lost something important in that place, something he was unable to remember.

 _Almost as if I'm seeing my own memories through someone else's eyes_ , he thought with a shudder.

He discarded it immediately. Greyfell was his home and he was born and raised there, even if remembering his past in that place was sometimes similar to wandering in thick, white mist, where details where lost along the way.

Regarding the third trail, Malcolm Stormheart, he wasn't sure on how to proceed. The first person that came to mind when he thought of Malcolm Stormheart, was Alex, but Shard wasn't sure how he would be able to talk to him without getting on his bad side. It didn't seem like a good idea, especially now that Alex could zap him out of existence with some Storm spell. It could have been just as bad if he came to know he had been asking other people about his uncle.

None of those options came without taking some sort of risk. A pat of him was screaming to keep out of it all, let Amborse and Malistaire sort it their own way, but he was also curious. Curious about what kind of plan would have any need for someone such as Emer and himself.

 _Play it safe, Shard. Play it safe_ , he thought.

He needed to get a rough idea of who Malistaire was before hoping to understand whatever was going on, and that could be easily achieved by speaking to Death students.

"I guess we can't go around asking for black cats... What about asking one of Malistaire's students about their professor? They might know something that connects the dots," Shard offered.

"Sounds like a plan. Honestly though, I thought you were planning to dig a hole and ambush Ambrose in his office judging by how much you stared at the pavement," Emer giggled.

Only then, Shard noticed that he had indeed stopped walking only to stare down on the floor, completely taken by his own thoughts.

"Heh, I guess the cafetteria's spoons aren't sturdy enough for digging tunnels," he replied with a small smile.

"Too true, too true."

Walking around the commons and the campus, Shard and Emer began looking for any student sporting black and white robes, the colors of Death magic. Unfortunately, they found very few of them lurking around, and even fewer who spoke to them.

"Why are you novices so interested in that? Yes, our professor went mad, it's not like we have anything to do with it, so stop pestering us about him," a Necromancer said, before marching away.

"Wait… We just wanted to ask you something!" Emer said, but her voice didn't reach the boy and she didn't seem to be looking forward to chase him down either. Last time she had tried, she had been hit with a spell that wrote ' _Beware, nosy tree-hugger incoming'_ in huge black letters on the front of her green robe.

"This isn't working," Emer admitted.

"They don't want to talk about it, but it's not like we're blaming them or anything…" Shard muttered.

"Well, we sure have to deal with quite a lot of nosy tree-huggers these days, don't you think so too, Emer?" A voice said behind them, ending the question with a small laugh.

Shard and Emer turned around after hearing it, and found themselves face to face with a beret-wearing girl, sporting an impeccable Cheshire cat smile.

"Hello, Moira, how are you?" Emer greeted the girl with a wave of her hand. Shard followed suit, wondering how the girl had managed to approach them from behind without any of them taking any notice of it.

"Everything's fine here. Doesn't seem the case for you though."

"We were asking around for information on Malistaire, but we are not having much success," Emer explained, trying to hide the sentence with her arms.

"You were? That explains why most of my classmates were in the mood of murdering the first person that came their way. It's unfortunate that it was me though," she shrugged. "Want me to take that spell off your robe?" Moira said, taking out her wand.

Emer beamed at her and replied, "That would be awesome!"

"Leave it to me then!" Moira said, waving her wand while uttering a few words. In the blink of an eye, the words disappeared, leaving the green robe as immaculate as it was before.

"Thanks!" Emer said, looking at her robe to check if everything was fine.

Shard decided that the encounter with Moira came at a nice timing, asking the question that they had been asking for the last hour, "Moira, you're a necromancer, right? Can you tell us something about Malistaire?"

"Aw, how cute! Little stalkers growing up!"

Emer wasn't too happy to be called a stalker and seemed to want to start an argument about it, but Moira didn't even give her time to open her mouth, "Well, I don't know much about him, he was rather reserved. I can tell you why Death students don't like talking about him though."

Seemingly happy to have gotten their attention, Moira paused, walking a few steps back and forth like an actor on stage, enjoying the tension she was creating. "There are many rumors going around on what really happened. The official version is that he suddenly became mad after his wife died by some incurable cold. No one knows what he wants to achieve, and most don't really care. What we care about, is that he made the Death school disappear from Ravenwood, and this puts Death students in a bad spot."

Emer frowned and asked, "A bad spot?"

Moira looked back at her, taking her time, "We have a hard time studying without a school and a professor, and on toop of that, everyone keeps pestering us about Malistaire, asking for details. It isn't easy to accept that your favorite professor, probably the greatest Necromancer to have ever lived, is now an enemy. It's a heavy blow to the school's less than stellar reputation."

"I'm sorry for that…" Emer muttered.

"Don't worry about it. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter, we're just slightly annoyed," Moira said, her lips curving gently in a predatory smile.

Shard decided to risk it, the question burning to get out, "Do you know if Malistaire owned a cat?"

Moira's smile seemed to waver ever so slightly and Shard was left wondering if it did waver at all, "A cat? Not that I know of. Probably Malorn might know something more though. He knew Malistaire better than most."

"Malorn? The professor's assistant? Where can we find him?"

"You're out of luck today. He went home a while ago, try tomorrow, right after school. He usually tarries near the chasm after he's finished teaching. Ha! He must still be trying to wrap his head around how the school disappeared." Having said that, Moira waved them goodbye and left, heading towards the shopping district.

"That was quite helpful… Well, since we can't talk to Malorn, better do some homework," Emer said.

"Homework?"

"Sure, didn't Falmea give you anything?" Emer asked, signing Shard to follow her back to Ravenwood.

"Well, she did explain lots of stuff that needs revision… but you told me that Professor Wu didn't really explain anything!" Shard said, remembering how even the first meeting with professor wu hadn't been something he would consider a lesson.

"She didn't in fact. The first step for novice theurgists is to know more about ourselves, we need to do quite a lot of introspection. Nobody can teach you about yourself better than yourself as Professor Wu said. It's harder than any normal homework she could have given."

"Oh, alright then. I guess we'll see each other later," Shard said, as they arrived in front of Bartleby and went separate ways to their dorms.

* * *

Later that evening, the feeble light of candles illuminated the book of basic Pyromancy left open on the desk. Shard's hand keeping track of his progress. Glancing from time to time to his notes, and nodding each time he was sure to have understood the passage. Shard kept on studying, his mind not really into it at all.

 _An incurable cold huh? I wonder why theurgists couldn't heal her,_ he thought.

Thinking back, Emer had recovered from something that seemed far more serious than a cold. It didn't make much sense at all. Actually, he didn't know much at all about Malistaire's wife. Maybe, if he understood what was so special about her, he could have learnt something useful on Malistaire himself. Something that could lead him to the cat.

 _I'm grasping at straws here_ , Shard thought.

With a sigh, he lied back on the chair, his mind wandering away from the dragon wars he was supposed to study. The desire to speak with someone assailed him. He would have liked to speak with Emer about it, confess his fears of not being able to keep up with lessons.

He didn't want to be kicked out of Ravenwood. That would have meant to say goodbye to Emer, Kane, and Rose. He had already grown fond of his new two friends from the city of wizards.

Gently, he put a hand in his bag, taking out his Spellbook. The cover seemed to be already falling apart, the pages torn and fragile. What did it even mean?

Showing it to anyone was out of the question. The proof of him being a Wizard was falling apart in his very hands, it couldn't be something good. Might as well be his ticket home.

He carefully opened it. Pages upon pages of illegible symbols greeted him back. That was something even weirder. According to Rose, Spellbooks' pages were supposed to fill up with time as the Wizard learnt the spells, starting out as blank slates. Even Emer's was completely empty. Shard had seen her opening it the day before.

Not knowing what to do, nor how to read the writing, he hid the Spellbook in the bag once again, away from prying eyes.

He didn't want to be left alone at a time like that. He knew it was mostly his doing. By avoiding to talk to anyone about what was troubling him, he had built an invisible wall around him.

"Does Rose feel the same? Is she afraid we'd treat her differently if she brought up the entrance exam?" he muttered.

Kane thought it was a big deal and Shard couldn't exactly understand why Ambrose couldn't just decide to enroll whoever he wanted at Ravenwood. He was the headmaster, right? Were people that desperate of becoming Wizards that they'd team up against Ambrose?

The more he thought about it, and the less it made sense. He wanted to help Rose somehow. He wanted to comfort her.

An idea came to him. There was something he could have tried, something that he wished he could have done back on Greyfell.

Maybe it was with the help of a bit of altruism and a good dose of selfishness how that idea came forth. Even so, the next day, he would have asked his three friends to be part of a study group.

* * *

 **And that's where this chapter ends. It will take some time to plan down some details in the next chapters, so I can't promise for any updates next week or the week after that.**

 **If you want to, do leave a review! Tell me what you liked and what you didn't like. Since It's the story's birthday and I'm going back to planning, you have even more reasons to do so!**

 **Think of it this way: your words might influence the future! Gasp! :O**

 **In fact, while I have a very good idea of what is going to happen, there are lots of things that might change in the future depending on how everything ties in together.**

 **Anyway, I hope you'll have a great day. I'm off to do some planning, plotting, writing, screaming, scrapping and restarting!** **Usual writing cycle for me, LOL.**


	17. Different Trails

**Finally, I finished planning out the next bunch of chapters and can continue to write them. Thank you for your patience :)**

 **To Guest: I like the idea of a mentor and I will probably delve into it later on, though I don't think Ambrose would ask Alumni to help out new students. If anything, Ambrose gives me the feeling of relying more on actual Ravenwood students instead of bothering former ones with Ravenwood-related problems. He did ask a student to stop Malistaire in the main storyline of the game, instead of turning to more capable, former students to fix the trouble. He didn't even ask the Arcanum's help with Morganthe...**

 **Regarding Alex, his arrogance is something he is going to have to deal with sooner or later. As for him being a Storm wizard; we do not yet know if he is creative or not, but he surely does enjoy the thrill of investigation, though, when matters become personal, it might be harder to deal with the frustration of not being able to find out the truth...**

 **To Jimmy: Balance School is in Krokotopia and not yet studied at Ravenwood in Fragment of a Wish's timeline. Reasons for this choice might be clearer as the story progresses. The most obvious one is to give some reasons for the lack of a proper classroom close to Bartleby.**

 **Thank you both for your reviews. I usually answer them with PMs, but I surely can find space in A/N, they're full of my ramblings anyway. XD**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

* * *

 **Chapter 17 – Different Trails**

* * *

"You are asking me if Malistaire owned a Black cat? Not that I know of, but maybe he did. Familiars are quite useful for some complex spells," Malorn Ashthorn said, his weight placed on his staff as he leant forward to look at Shard and Emer.

"Alright, thanks for the information. Could you tell me anything about Sylvia Drake by any chance?" Shard added, almost as an afterthought.

"Well, she was the professor of Life magic here at Ravenwood, Professor Wu took over right after her death," Malorn said. "Why are you asking?"

"Just curious," Shard replied evasively.

"It's very mysterious, isn't it? Lots of people ask about her these days."

"Yeah…"

Malorn seemed to think about something for a few seconds, and then added, "If you really are interested, maybe you should talk with a family friend of the Drake's, Gloria Krendell."

That got Shard's full attention, "there is a family friend?"

Malorn gave him a weird stare and then chuckled. "Of course they had some family friends. Both Malistaire and Sylvia were nice people before... well, that was before Sylvia died."

"Right…"

After asking Malorn more detailed information on how to find Gloria Krendell's house, Shard and Emer waved goodbye, walking back towards the commons.

Kane was waiting for them in front of the boy's dormitory and approached them as soon as he saw them coming back. "Took you long enough. What were you talking about with Ashtothorn?"

"We asked why he wears that funny hat," Emer lied, casting a sideways glance at Shard.

"Um… Yeah…" Shard nodded.

Kane looked at them in awkward silence. "And he wears it because?"

Shard had no idea what to reply and after a few instants of well-hidden panic, what came out of his mouth was a not very convincing, "Um..."

"I don't think he knows either," Emer said, shrugging it off.

"I knew it!" Kane exclaimed, cheering for something only he seemed to understand.

"Where did Rose go?" Shard said, looking around the square.

Rose was nowhere in sight. In front of the dormitories, there was a small crowd, surrounding two boys wearing the purple and yellow robes that identified them as diviners. Their wands were pointed upwards and they waved it frantically to keep small paper ships flying in the air above their heads. Every few seconds, small cannons on each ship fired small, purple projectiles from their tiny paper cannons, attempting to hit the opposing ship and blast it out of the sky.

Kane turned his head to his left in surprise."She must have sneaked inside the dormitory while I wasn't looking."

Emer sighed. "Give me a few minutes." She made her way to the dormitory, opened the door and slammed it behind her.

As Emer had promised, a few minutes later, she came out dragging Rose with her. The blonde struggled in vain to free herself as she emitted weak protests. Emer, on the other hand, kept uttering calming words, raising her eyes to the sky in exasperation.

"I need to study, Emer! Professor Drake will give out another test tomorrow, I can't fail it!" Rose complained, her voice coming out weak and shattered.

"We know that and we're helping you out. Don't let me repeat myself," Emer replied.

"I know… but how? We are in different schools!"

"First and foremost, we are making sure you won't pass the rest of your life locked up in your room," Emer said, freeing Rose's arm from her hold. "Will you give us a chance, or not?"

Rose shuffled her feet, keeping her eyes fixed on the floor like a reluctant child."Alright…"

Following Kane's advice, and forgoing the fact he had stressed about it whenever he had the chance to, the day was too nice to waste it closed up in the library, so the four novices, decided to study in Unicorn Park. Sitting on the bright green grass with their books on their laps, the study group finally started their first seating.

No more than ten minutes had gone by with them comparing notes and textbooks that the four children had reached the general consensus that, apart from the school-specific history and approach to magic, there wasn't much of a difference in the topics.

"It's the first lessons, the basics are mostly the same for everyone," Rose admitted, skimming through Emer's books. "If we stick to the chapters about symbol drawing and mana, maybe studying together might be possible."

"Alright! Now, did you understand this diagram? It doesn't make much sense to me!" Emer said, turning the pages of her book for Rose to see. And with that, the group started their studies.

The afternoon went by pretty fast. The basic wand movements and symbols to cast more complex spells were easily memorized under Emer's guide, her natural talent with understanding how to put in practice stuff in the books, coming in handy for everyone. Rose was able to understand complex concepts and explain them easily and even managed to keep Kane focused, despite his mind's blatant tendencies of wandering off to unrelated stuff.

Kane's importance in the group ended up being very important too. His attitude helped to lighten the mood, proving to be just what Rose needed to avoid panicking. The redhead struggled more than each of them combined to remember stuff, but as he did so, he managed to make it seem doable and even fun.

Shard, on the other hand, tried to fill in the gaps when the others struggled. If Kane fell behind with his work, Shard helped him, making it possible for Rose to skip ahead and read some more of her own huge amount of pages. When Kane wasn't in need, Shard helped Rose out by taking hold of her book and checking how much she remembered from her readings, keeping his gaze fixed on the pages and helping her out whenever she didn't remember the minute details Professor Drake required.

It wasn't exactly an optimal setting, and it probably wouldn't last when the school-specific work increased, but it was working, and Shard felt relieved to see Rose smiling as her problems were momentarily forgotten.

Some uneventful days passed. Each afternoon the four of them would meet up to finish up their homework and revise. As they got the hang of it, they managed to finish everything earlier each time, magical theory slowly became less alien and far easier to remember.

Unicorn park became the usual hanging spot, and Kane started to bring about lots of things for them to see each day. Once he brought some fishing rods, challenging everyone at a contest and winning by a large margin, just to gloat about it for the rest of the day. Another time he brought a rubber ball which could bounce off of anything. Unfortunately, that didn't go so well, since they spent nearly thirty minutes trying to catch it after it had been thrown, without giving any time for Kane to explain the rules of the game it was meant to be played with it.

Shard's motivation of finding out more about the black cat was trampled by the anticipation of meeting up with everyone at the park and he ended up not progressing much at all in his investigation, but as it usually happened to every routine, a day came when the group couldn't meet up.

Kane had been asked to stay after the lesson by Madame Falmea, who was still trying to wrap her head around his achievement of summoning a lesser aspect of the Fire Titan on his second day of school. Rose didn't have any extra courses, but she wanted to write a letter to her family and it seemed like a delicate matter, so Shard and Emer left her alone and opted to continue their search for truth.

"We should go meet Ambrose. He is surely in his office today," Emer said, pointing to a crowd of people, all gathered to meet up the headmaster.

"But then we won't have enough time to meet up with Gloria Krendell. I think she might know something about what's going on," Shard replied.

"Or she might not. I'm more concerned about the exam. Ambrose put us in a weird spot and I want to know why."

"Oh, right."

Shard had noticed how rumors had started to spread. People were whispering about two unwanted novices that year. He was probably among the suspects due to his ignorance of the Spiral's inner workings, his misadventure with the dragon and the long time it took him to produce a Spellbook.

"Let's split up then… we'll fill each other in later," Shard said. It was for the best that they used their free time efficiently.

Emer nodded."Alright, I'll take Ambrose"

Following Malorn's instructions, Shard made his way to the Olde Town and Gloria's house. Approaching the door with hesitant steps, he timidly knocked.

Mrs. Krendell didn't make him wait long, and soon enough Shard introduced himself. She smiled at him once he said he was a novice at Ravenwood and invited him into her home. Mrs. Kendall was a kind old lady with squared glasses, grey hair tied up in a bun and lively blue eyes. Shard explained to her the reason for seeking her up and she merely smiled, without giving any sign of having heard him, and ended up offering him a cup of tea and chocolate-chip cookies.

Shard gladly accepted and found himself sitting on a comfortable red sofa as Gloria Krendell fumbled with the teapot in the kitchen.

"Here it is. Be careful, it's hot," Gloria said, pouring the drink into a cup.

Shard muttered his thanks, noticing that the situation wasn't all that different than his first arrival in Wizard City. Even then, he was sitting with a cup of tea, seeking answers from an old person in front of him.

"My dear friend Sylvia was a person unlike any other," Mrs. Krendell began, her eyes drifting into the distance as she remembered the past. "She was a wizard prodigy, as knowledgeable in the arts of Life as her husband was in those of Death."

To Shard, that sounded pretty impressive. Malistaire was hailed by everyone as a very powerful and respected Necromancer, so his wife had been among the greatest Theurgists of all time.

"Oh, but that was not the end of it. She wasn't skilled only in Life magic. She used it rarely, but she possessed quite a grasp over Fire magic as well."

Shard widened his eyes in surprise. She knew two kinds of magic and was proficient in both of them. Thinking back to how everyone tended to specialize in only one kind of magic, to avoid losing effectiveness, he couldn't help but wonder just how powerful Sylvia Drake had been.

Gloria kept on talking, "you might have come here to hear about their achievements, their magic and their secrets as many others have done before you. Truth to be told, I do not know anything about it. I'm no wizard myself, you see…" she smiled."All of your kind might think it differently, but of all of Sylvia's qualities, her magic spells weren't her most remarkable traits. It was her kindness and wisdom what really made her stand out."

Shard nodded, thinking that it had been a good choice to talk to Mrs. Krendell after all. He doubted that Malistaire had gone mad if he didn't find something peculiar in Sylvia. Something he couldn't leave without for the rest of his life.

"I'm not interested in what she could do either. I'm far more interested in who Sylvia Drake was."

"That might be a first for a student of Ravenwood, I'll try to remember as much as I can for your sake."

Shard thought that the woman had been far too kind to him in such circumstances. It was clear that many students had come to her house to pester her on her friends' powers and how to obtain them. Regardless of that, she had invited him inside and given him a drink and cookies.

The more Mrs. Krendell talked, the more Shard was convinced that Malistaire had been a good man once. Sylvia usually involved him in her weird projects, and he was always there for her, albeit making sure to grumble out his displeasure of being involved. They didn't have children, but their marriage was long lasting and strong.

"There is something I don't understand at all…" Shard confessed.

"What is it, child?"

"Why couldn't Sylvia be healed? Judging from her character and history she had been through a lot and being struck down by a cold… is weird."

"I do not have an answer for that. She wouldn't get better, no matter whatever was tried. No medicine or spell could save her. Perhaps it was her time." Mrs. Krendell teared up a little bit as she said those words, but she made her best effort at hiding it by pretending to take her cup back to the ktchen.

Shard was left alone with his thoughts for a few minutes. He might have gone too far, but he had to ask her about those things if he wanted to find out something more. The black cat came back in his thoughts, as it did more and more frequently those days.

"Do you know if they ever held pets or familiars? From your tale, Sylvia seemed to be the kind of person to keep one," Shard finally asked, once Mrs. Krendell sat back down.

"Pets or familiars? Not that I know of. I seldom went to their house and she never told me anything about pets. Oh, but they did save a drake a hundred years ago or so, Sylvia told me everything about it and maybe she even kept it with her in secret."

Shard almost choked on the biscuit, having heard of something that happened a hundred years prior, wondering just how old Sylvia had been.

Mrs. Krendell misunderstood his action and with a small chuckle added, "Yes, once drakes weren't as rare as they are now. They almost got wiped out only after the fall of Dragonspyre, not that I was alive to ever witness that."

Shard was far more surprised by the implied lifespan of Malistaire and Sylvia, but the lady didn't linger on it too much, going on to talk about a scrapbook in which Sylvia used to write down anything she had in her mind.

"Would you mind if I saw the scrapbook?" Shard asked, hoping to find out something about the cat, since Mrs. Krendell didn't seem to know about it.

"Sure, I'll go get it," Mrs. Krendell replied, getting up and slowly walking to a shelf. "How…? It has always been here! Where did it go?" Mrs. Krendell muttered, extending her research to some drawers of a nearby dresser.

"Need a hand?" Shard, asked, getting up.

"That would be appreciated," she replied, looking to the huge bookcase in her living room.

Shard sighed and got up, approaching the old leather-bound books with nothing but a feeble hope of finding anything about the black cat. Regardless, he had to try that trail, even if it led to nothing. Sylvia proved to be a way more interesting person than he had taught at first.

* * *

After three strong knocks, the door to the headmaster's office opened in front of Emer. She quickly closed it upon entering and confidently moved to the desk, addressing Ambrose directly, "Good afternoon, headmaster."

"Good afternoon, Emer. What brings you here?"

"Um… I know about the exam," she simply said, sure that Ambrose would catch up on the rest.

"I see, and what do you think of it?"

"I think… to quote Shard, Why do you want us here so much?"

Ambrose's features slowly deformed in a smile, "Did he say that? And why isn't he here too?"

"Um…" Emer tried to quickly think of an excuse to give the headmaster, one that would keep him from learning about Shard's obsession with the black cat. "He told me he had lots of homework to do."

As soon as she had said that, she mentally scolded herself for such a weak excuse.

"Falmea does give some assignments on the Titan War during the first weeks, it is a fascinating story. Is it not?"Ambrose stated, giving no hint on either believing her or not.

"Yeah…" Emer muttered.

With the help of his staff, Ambrose got up and started walking towards a door on Emer's right. Turning towards the girl, who didn't move from her spot, he added,"Come on now, young Wizard. The answers you seek are just beyond that door."

Without wasting a second, Emer followed the headmaster. A gasp of awe escaped her as soon as she saw what was hidden beyond the wooden door.

"Whooo?!" Gamma said, flying from his perch to interject them.

"I have brought Emer here for a much-needed explanation," Ambrose said, walking towards the middle of the room.

"About time. The poor child doesn't even know what she's gotten into."

Emer barely heard Gamma talking, intent as she was on gazing upwards. A shiny blue crystal was hanging from the ceiling. The light that came from it bended in a spiral made up of small stars. Inside the spiral, small orbs moved in circles around the center, some distant and some close to it. Inside of them, there were chunks of land, some luxurious and covered in untamed forests, some completely barren with dunes of sand covering their entirety.

"What you see now, is the Spiral, and each one of those is a world connected to it," Ambrose explained.

"The Spiral? You mean that it's a map?" Emer said, breathless, following with her gaze an orb containing a thriving city.

"Once, a very advanced civilization, traveled wide and far, gaining knowledge of how our universe works. This is but a relic from their glorious past."

"It's beautiful…" Emer trailed off, engrossed in the movements of the stars depicted on the map.

"Every world is connected to the Spiral, each one but a fragment of the first world, held together by the Song of Creation. The magic that binds them is strong, and it represents more than a simple connection between chunks of land. I dare say, it even comes as far as connecting people and events."

Emer took every word in, unsure how any of it could answer her questions, but interested in it nonetheless.

"Prophecies were an extremely common occurrence in the past, while nowadays, they are few, convoluted and hard to understand. This makes me wonder if the future itself has suddenly become uncertain. If the Song is somehow growing quieter…" Ambrose trailed off, losing himself in thoughts without bothering to explain what was troubling him to Emer. Then as if he remembered he had to give some kind of reasoning to his own actions, continued talking.

"With Malistaire on the loose, I have foreseen an imminent danger for Wizard City, perhaps, even trouble for the Spiral itself. As such, I took precautions, and cast an ancient spell, one which could lead me to a solution to our current predicament."

Emer widened her eyes, slowly coming to the realization that it was being talked about her after all. What was yet to be seen, was how she was involved in any of it at all.

"In truth, I had no idea that the spell would lead me to Greyfell, a world where the concept of magic doesn't exist. Moreso, what came up in the crystal orb, were none other than you, Emer."

Emer made a step backward, her head spinning with the new information she had just been told. Apparently, she was summoned to Wizard City to put an end to the trouble brewing in the Spiral.

"But… If it's Malistaire the one causing trouble… Does that mean I have to stop him?" Emer staggered, the thought of facing off against the former Death professor making her blood run cold.

"My, my, of course not, Emer," Ambrose replied, shaking his head," I would never pit a novice against such a powerful foe as Malistaire! If you had been a graduate I'd still have serious doubts of your success."

The room became silent as Emer attempted to understand what the headmaster meant,"So… If I'm not fighting him, what's the point of summoning me here?"

"I do not yet know an answer to that question. Your importance in what is to come is indeed crucial, but I cannot tell whether it will be the role of a fighter, or whether everything will depend on a single choice you will make. That is something that will come with time, by its own accord and your own will," Ambrose said, adjusting his monocle once again.

"So, I should do nothing at all? What if I don't want to save the Spiral? What if I make the wrong choice?" she muttered.

"I think the spell led me to you for a reason, and that the best way to make the best choice is to stay true to yourself."

"I see… but why rigging the exam?"

Ambrose didn't answer, signing her to follow him back to his office. Accompanied by the rhythmic thumping of the headmaster's staff on the floor, they both sat back on the opposite sides of the desk.

"I would have never rigged the exam if you didn't come here under those dire circumstances. The exam would have been in a few days time, yet, you were unable to leave the infirmary. Let alone study numerous books on the spiral, knowledge which, both you and Shard, are severely lacking."

"You really want me and Shard in your school, do you?" she found herself asking as Shard's words echoed in her mind. The headmaster was indeed hiding many things, and they were far bigger than she had thought at first.

"That is the case," Ambrose admitted,"If I had to choose between protecting the Spiral, and meticulously following rules, I would certainly choose the first option. The magical education of two students pales in comparison to the multiple lives that could be saved by tweaking rules."

"alright,I understand why you want me here, but why Shard?"

With all the talk on the future and trouble, not to mention her own supposed involvement in all of it, Shard had been barely even mentioned.

"I have yet to understand his role in the current situation, but I cannot ignore that he is someone close to you, perhaps he might be important himself."

"Is that so?" Emer muttered it more as a question to herself than to actually disprove Ambrose's words. "Alright, one last question. Why did you accept Rose, even though she didn't pass?"

Ambrose chuckled."That might be the simplest answer to all the questions you asked today. Rosemary Green is a rather resourceful child, one that might prove to become a great wizard. I couldn't deny her admittance after all the hard work she had put to come here, and even if I did, she would have tried to learn magic by herself anyway, something which could prove to be highly dangerous and not advisable at all."

"Alright, I'm finished…" Emer said, wanting nothing more than to get out of the office and have some time alone to sort her thoughts. After taking leave from the office, she slowly made her way in the Commons, her mind replaying the words she had just heard multiple times.

"Hey, Emer!" Shard's voice interrupted her chaotic thoughts, just in time for her to steel her resolve and bring forth one of her usual smiles before her friend got to her.

"Hey, Shard! How did it go with Gloria Krendell?"

"Nothing… I did learn lots of stuff about Sylvia, but they don't seem to have ever had any cats," he said, not hiding how down he felt for the wasted time. "Supposedly, there was a scrapbook where there could be written something important, but Mrs. Krendell lost it, we couldn't find it anywhere."

After a few seconds of silence, Shard asked the very dreaded question she wanted to avoid at all costs.

"How did it go with Ambrose?"

"Um, h-he avoided answering and told me he was busy," she lied.

"Oh." Shard looked in the direction of the office with narrowed eyes."I guess we'd have to find out about that on our own too."

"Yeah…"

She would have told him about the reason they had been summoned to Wizard City, but she was sure that as things were now, Shard would have just gotten angry.

She wasn't sure herself what she thought about it. She was being used as a means to avoid some great calamity without her having any say in it. Although she wasn't sure if she could get angry at someone that wanted nothing more out of her than her being herself. Didn't it mean he wasn't asking anything at all?

Resolving to reveal the truth in due time, she hurried back to the dormitory, with the excuse of wanting to rest for a while and Shard walked after her. With some difficulty Emer started to conjure up an excuse, adding it to the ever growing wall of lies she had been building since she had started living in Wizard City.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Triton Avenue...

The door to the room creaked open and a girl slowly walked in, surveying the surroundings with a critical eye. Her black robes flowing around her as a draft of wind flowed in the room from the street.

"Did you take it?" she asked.

Her interlocutor, a skeleton wearing a roguelike brownish outfit with a dirty hood over his white skull, turned to face her, lifting his hand, covered in a steel glove and showing her his success.

"That's what I wanted to see," the girl said, loosening up in a smile. "Did you encounter any difficulties?"

"Went in and out like the wind. The lady didn't notice a thing."

"Good work, Seargent, now, if you may give the scrapbook back," the girl said, lifting her hand and coming closer.

Upon the sudden movement, the skeleton braced itself in self-defense, a dagger ready in hand."Not so fast child, you promised me help with my vengeance."

The girl stopped in her tracks. Her smile growed larger as she looked at the undead that dared defy her. "Oh, I do remember promising something along those lines. He killed you, didn't he? Long ago… and he even denied something pretty important to you…"

"That's right, and with your magic, we might just stand a chance," the undead said with a grin.

"A chance? You're asking me of going against one of the strongest Necromancers of our age," the girl rebuked, making a step forward.

The skeleton was trembling from head to toe, barely keeping his tone of voice from becoming hysterical,"But you might… I saw what you can do! I know who you are!"

Cornering the cowering skeleton the girl seemed to take great pleasure in replying, "Dear Seargent Skullsplitter, there is quite the difference with what I can do, and what Malistaire can do, you know?"

Seargent Skullsplitter didn't give up and offered another solution,"Perhaps we can be sneaky in our attack, he won't see it coming!"

A loud laugh erupted in the room, the source, the girl bent in two as she held her stomach,"That might have been an interesting solution, but I have no intention of helping you at all."

"But you promised!"

"More often than not, words are empty."

Seargent Skullsplitter backed all the way to the wall, taking out the scrapbook and bringing it close to the purple flame of a nearby torch. "If you try anything, the scrapbook burns. You don't want to lose whatever you're looking for, do you?"

The girl didn't seem fazed at all, her words coming out as calm as earlier."How cute! Threats are indeed a step in the right direction." After a short pause, she added in a whisper,"If only it wasn't such a poor excuse for a threat. Too bad, Seargent, too bad."

With a wave of the girl's hand, a silent spell was cast and Seargent Skullsplitter screamed in horror and agony as his body decayed, turning into dust.

The scrapbook fell on the floor, the skeletal hand devoid of any strength to throw it into the fire. As the Seargent's skull started it's decay too, the girl bent down to pick the scrapbook up.

"Foolish bunch of bones, I meant to destroy it anyway," she said, gracefully burning the book in front of the Seargent, whose mouth was now lying in a pile of dust in front of his face. His empty eye sockets let out the silent scream which couldn't find its way out in any other way.

Turning on her heel, the girl shrugged, adjusted her beret, and exited from the tower as if nothing had happened at all. In fact, Moira Nightdust, couldn't care less about the seargent's fate.

* * *

 **While Shard and Emer are carrying on their investigation people plot and act in the shadows… I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, Feel free to say what you think with a review!**

 **Regarding Wizard's lifespans: Wizards live extremely long lives in Fragment of a Wish. This fact seems to be implied also in the game. Ambrose, for example, might be even more than a thousand years old… How age impacts wizards and the length of their lifespan will be touched upon, in greater detail, later on.**

 **Regarding Sylvia Drake: She used high-ranked Fire School spells in the 5 boxes event set in the past.**

 **Next chapter will come out in roughly 2 weeks. It isn't 100% certain though, I will be quite busy for a while.**


	18. Honesty

**And here is the next chapter. I'm not totally satisfied with how this one came out and I went through a lot of difficulties to complete it... but meh, I still hope it's enjoyable.**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

* * *

 **Chapter 18 –Honesty**

* * *

The pile of books in front of him didn't give any sign of decreasing. Every time he found new information on magical felines, Shard had to stand up and do a new search on the numerous shelves of the library, coming back to the table with more useless books.

For as much as he tried, he couldn't narrow down his search, coming to the realization that the Spiral was full of all sorts of cats, and not all of them were even remotely similar to the black cat he was looking for.

The only information in his possession that could prove useful was that whatever he was looking for had probably a connection to Malistaire, and the word 'familiar' often came out whenever he looked through connections between wizards and animals.

Slowly raising his gaze, Shard considered asking Rose for help. The novice conjurer was sitting opposite of him, with a pile of books on familiars scattered on her side of the table. He didn't know what was her deal with familiars, but she might have read the answer to his questions in some of her books, besides, she was way better than him in navigating the library and finding information.

A loud groan came from Shard's right, the person to whom it belonged, slowly trudging through the pages of a book on basic Pyromancy.

"I've been studying this stuff for an hour! Can I go home now?" Kane complained, closing the book with a thud.

"Can you tell me all of the properties of the pure Fire?" Rose asked, not even bothering to lift her gaze up from her book.

"I… Um… But can I go?"

"Sure, if you want to fail the year, disappoint everyone around you, be expelled and have your Spellbook burned right in front of your teary eyes as you regret not having spent these five minutes on a few paragraphs," Rose said, her tone calm with a tint of repressed anxiety about to burst out at any moment. "Oh, and then you die," she added as an afterthought.

"Right…" Kane faintly replied, burying his nose in his book with renewed vigor.

Shard was conflicted on whether to laugh or be scared at such a dynamic between those two. If there was anyone who was able to make Kane focus on reading, that one was a force to be reckoned with. It came as a shock when Rose just so casually happened to fit the bill.

"Are you feeling alright, Rose?" Shard asked, for some reason she had been far more serious and irritable that day.

"Sure, nothing's wrong. I just can't find anything about a problem I have and it's getting quite frustrating," she replied dryly, turning the page with a smooth, practiced movement.

Kane lifted his gaze from his book and asked in a barely audible whisper,"Are you talking about those guys from earlier?"

Rose suddenly stiffened, glared at Kane, and shook her head.

Shifting his gaze from Kane to Rose multiple times, Shard asked,"what is he talking about?"

"Oh, earlier I saw Rose with a bunch of not so friendly Myth students. They were-"

"Enough, Kane, it's not that important. I told you I'll manage by myself with them,"Rose interrupted loudly.

"If you say so…" Kane replied, narrowing his eyes and getting back to his reading.

Shard looked at the empty place where Emer usually sat. Since she had talked to the headmaster, she had become more distant, randomly staring off into the distance. Usually, it would have been her the one who figured out what was wrong with Rose, but today she had gone off to her room, telling everyone that she was tired and needed some rest.

There wasn't much he could do without asking directly, and Shard thought that it wasn't his place to do so. If Rose wasn't willing to share, he surely wasn't going to force her.

Focusing back on his own problems, Shard wondered if it was necessary to tell them all about his concerns about the black cat. He was pretty sure Emer would have given her seal of approval on such a decision, mocking him because of the time it took for him to open up. Shard internally laughed at how Emer made it sound so simple, it really wasn't.

"You know, Rose, I kind of have my own problem and I think it has to do with familiars…" He began, risking everything on honesty. The words came out with difficulty, fighting against his habit of keeping everything to himself.

"A problem that has to do with familiars?!" Rose suddenly glanced upwards, widening her eyes and giving Shard her undivided attention.

Kane, on the other hand, didn't seem all that interested, merely replying with an 'uh?' while he swung on his chair.

"Um… there is this familiar… that keeps bugging me, much like a persecution of some sort…"

"I'm not the only one then!" Rose exclaimed under Shard's and Kane's bewildered gaze. Then after eyeing suspiciously left and right to make sure no one was overhearing their conversation, she approached Shard and started talking in conspirational tone,"I have a problem with a rock. It keeps harassing me daily and I have no idea how to make it stop. I'm going crazy!"

"More like gone, and never really came back,"Kane commented, cracking a laugh.

"Kane, this is serious!" Rose retorted.

"Yeah, right…" Kane shook his head with a smirk.

Rose rolled her eyes, fished in her pockets, and took out a rock, placing it on the table with an 'I told you' attitude. "Meet Rocky. The root of all of my problems!"

"Are you actually carrying a rock in your pocket?!" Kane stated blankly.

"It's not a simple rock, It's a magical rock! A very rude, evil and manipulative magical rock!"

"Looks pretty normal to me," Kane concluded, after examining the rock closely.

Shard couldn't help but agree, it looked through and through like a normal rock one could find anywhere, no matter how they looked at it. It's only characteristic was its smooth surface.

"Ugh, whatever. It obviously won't do anything evil with you around… more so if it can make you think I'm crazy," Rose said stuffing the rock back into her pocket. She then seemed to want to act as if the conversation about her evil rock never happened and asked, "What is it you need help with?"

With some difficulty, Shard told Rose about the summoning and the black cat. He told them how it had appeared both on Greyfell, going into great detail on how it felt to fall in the portal, the experience still fresh in his memory.

Rose seemed very interested in what he was saying, going as far as abandoning her book on the table, looking at Shard with intensity, as if reevaluating him in the light of the newly acquired information.

Swallowing all his doubts, Shard kept on talking, describing the incident at the Fairgrounds, and how the cat had appeared among those countless blue orbs. After he was done, Rose had her arms crossed on her chest, frowning as she assimilated everything. Kane, on the other hand, was surprised as it was the first time he heard Shard talking about his encounters with the cat.

"I might have an idea about what you call orbs, although I know them as mana wisps. Professor Drake gave us to read some books about them," Rose said.

"Wisps? Yeah, I think Ambrose called them something like that…"

"I thought so… Nothing to worry about with those, they're just masses of mana that linger in the area after magic has been used. "

"But I saw things in them… some creatures…" Shard complained.

"What you did there is… called Mana Reading… I think. It's nothing more than being able to see past events through the flow of mana. Even though, there are some advanced classes about that later on, you shouldn't be able to see mana yet, let alone read its flow!"

"So wizards can actually see the past whenever they like to do so?" Shard asked, thinking of how easy everything could have been if everything was recorded by the so-called, 'flow of mana'.

Rose chuckled, "Solving mysteries would be a piece of cake, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Something big needs to happen for its memory to linger for a while. Myth magic kind of works that way, it draws upon old memories from all around the Spiral and calls them forth using the truth hidden within them."

"So, does that mean there were strange creatures in the Fairegrounds before we came by?"

"I don't know why you saw that…" Rose replied.

"Could they be spells?" Kane inquired, trying to get into the conversation.

"That might have been it!" Rose exclaimed, "you saw the spells used in whatever battle happened between Malcolm Stormheart and its kidnapper!"

"That does make sense…" Shard agreed.

"The black cat, on the other hand, is very suspicious. Have you told the headmaster about it?" Rose inquired.

"I told him about it when I was summoned here from Greyfell, but he didn't give any explanation about it, and I fear that if I told him about its appearance at the Fairegrounds, I would never find out the truth."

"Why? You can still do some research after that! Even if he won't tell you anything," Rose said.

Shard shook his head,"I'm not too sure about that. I am a student at Ravenwood now, he can keep me from discovering the truth easily."

"Pft, do you really believe he would do something like that? Ambrose?!" Kane argued.

"I do," Shard said bluntly.

"Rose, tell him it's absurd! The headmaster is one of the nicest wizards in the Spiral! He founded the council of light!" Kane insisted.

"That, he is," Rose said. She then slowly brought a finger to her chin in thought," and that's also why I am led to believe he would hide things. Ambrose is well known to protect his students from dangerous knowledge."

Kane sighed."You think so too? Well, what's the plan then?"

Shard was slightly troubled by how easily Kane had decided to help him. He hadn't even spent a few seconds to think things through. It felt weird, especially when Kane obviously wasn't agreeing with them.

Rose made her eyes wander around the library."I think we should gather information from books and ask people not connected to Ambrose directly, otherwise, we will be found out."

Rose was helping him too. Shard felt a mote of gratefulness towards them, expressing it with a small smile.

"Another bunch of books? Why can't we go exploring some interesting place for once? Like… I got it! Malistaire's house in the Dark Cave! That's going to be fun! We can do a courage trial and-"

"Woah, stop with that enthusiasm. That place is off-limits and we aren't even sure if there really is a connection between the black cat and Malistaire."

"We don't?" Both Kane and Shard said.

"Not at all. Shard, not to be mean, but that's just a connection you made in your head, right?"

"I guess… But it really appeared every time Malistaire did something!" Shard complained.

"It might be like that, but then, it might just be a coincidence… We need actual proof to accuse someone."

Shard lowered his gaze to the book he was reading, "I see… So we're looking for some connection between them?"

"Yep, We better start right now. There are many lists of familiars, and whoever wrote them, didn't have a clue on how to organize information," Rose replied.

"Count me out of it. I still need to read my own chapter here," Kane said, pointing to his Pyromancy book like it was all its fault for everything which had ever gone wrong.

"Oh, now you do want to read the chapter, huh?" Rose giggled, giving Shard a bunch of her books to start what had now become a shared research.

* * *

Some days had passed since then. Pyromancy lessons started to shift more to fire control, something that was of crucial importance when actual spells came into play. Madame Falmea had given each student a lit candle, asking of them to try and make the flame bend left and right using their willpower.

Shard wasn't very good at it. His flame barely flickered even when he focused completely on his task, making him question for the hundred time, why was he chosen to be part of the Fire School.

Kane, on the other hand, demonstrated that he had no problem whatsoever with practical magic. His flame bent left and right at his every thought and by the end of the lesson, he was the only one to have mastered the exercise, being able to control his flame even while he talked.

Falmea didn't completely abstain from any comments though, praising Kane for his success, but telling him to try and tone the fire down. Every candle which passed under Kane's clutches was consumed at a much faster rate than any other, the flame on top of it, growing bigger and healthier as soon as Kane willed it to bend.

The research still didn't give the hoped results. Emer joined them too eventually, and they managed to narrow down a list of black cat familiars and their previous owners, none of the wizards was somebody called Malistaire Drake. There weren't many names on the list; the black cat was considered a very rare familiar since people thought that bonding with a black cat, would result in bad luck for both the wizard and those around him.

The part involving bad luck were merely rumors, and there was no proof that bad luck was connected to that kind of familiar. That's what Rose said. Still, every time a black cat owner had appeared, something terrible had happened. According to some records, one such wizard had been enrolled at Dragonspyre academy right before the whole world had been turned into a bunch of ruins by the Dragon Titan itself.

Dragonspyre, a world completely destroyed by a huge dragon. Shard kept on recalling fragments of what could have been that event, but he couldn't get himself to investigate it. Much like he couldn't get himself to open a single book on magic before the talk with Emer in Unicorn Park.

If Shard had to describe it, it felt like going out of his way to open a locked door. A door leading to the cellar of a haunted house. Bad things were bound to happen if he did it.

"After school, we should check out this book. Couldn't get my hands on a copy until now because everyone seems to be reading about it. It's a pretty accurate biography on Malistaire, if there is any sign of a black cat, it should be in there." Rose said, taking out a book with a black leather cover, and showing it to everyone.

They were sitting on a bench just outside the cafeteria, spending some minutes together during break time.

"Someone wrote a biography?" Emer asked, widening her eyes and taking hold of the book to look at the title. "The Great Necromaster. A Malistaire Drake's biography. Sounds neat! What did he do to get a book about himself?"

"Well, he revolutionized the traditional approach to Necromancy, and is said to be one of the few who actually mastered the subject," Rose explained.

"When he was younger, he participated in lots of tournaments too! His duels were some of the most spectacular ever fought!" Kane added.

Suddenly, Rose took the book back, stuffed it away in her bag and got up as if a jolt of electricity had just passed through the bench."I think we should get going, the break's about to end."

"We've got a bit of time left and we could-"Emer's voice was cut off when a group of students, dressed in gold and blue, approached them. A skinny girl with sharp features and silky black hair was the first to talk, addressing Rose directly, "Oh, here you are Green! Thought you'd put roots somewhere around here."

"Hello, Evelyn," Rose replied blankly, avoiding eye contact.

"So, that's where you go whenever you disappear," Evelyn stated, shaking her head. She then addressed Kane, Shard, and Emer directly in a solemn tone, "I'm sorry to tell you this and ruin what seems to be a blooming friendship, but you must know the truth. Rosemary Green isn't supposed to be a student and cheated to pass the exam."

"Huh?" Kane stood up from the bench, sending a questioning glance Evelyn's way.

"It's true!" Evelyn said defensively and nodding to put more emphasis on what she was saying."Look at the list in front of the headmaster's office, you'll see she hasn't passed. It's something everyone in our class knows."

"It was a mistake. Ambrose himself announced it that day. Of course, she passed, she wouldn't be here otherwise," Kane replied, his voice growing louder.

"But she always messes up everything in class!" A short boy argued, coming out of the small group.

"Yeah, she covered all the room in green goo last time she tried to recite out aloud the true name of the Bloodbat! It didn't go away from my robes… no matter how much I washed them!" Another girl echoed.

"Professor Drake was furious and gave us lots of extra homework," a boy sporting rectangular glasses said.

At every accusation, Rose seemed to shrink more and more, trying to hide in plain sight.

Emer tightened her lips as she got up and faced Evelyn, "Rose has every right to be here, maybe even more than people who go around accusing others without knowing anything."

Evelyn widened her eyes, "I'm just trying to help you out! You might not know what she could do if another spell goes wrong…"

"Thank you for the warning, but I I'll repeat it. Rose has by no means cheated, but even if she did, what would it change? She's way better at understanding magic than any of us," Emer almost shouted as Kane nodded just beside her, giving some support.

Rose did seem to blush when Emer had praised her, but other than that, Shard was sure she was trying to successfully cast an invisibility spell.

"Well, well, well. I didn't think I'd find all the people I was looking for, bickering in the same place," a voice interrupted.

Everyone turned around to look at the new arrival. Alex, sporting his usual dark purple and yellow attire, approached them, his eyes seemed to be sparkling with a dangerous intensity.

"Hey there Alex," Evelyn said. Her once confident tone wavered slightly. The change in her tone lasted but an instant and then, she seemed to steel her resolve, "I was telling them about the list."

"Oh, I see. So why are you bothering Rosemary Green, of all people?" he inquired.

"Well, since you told me there are extra students this year I've been keeping an eye open for them. I think Rose fits the bill, there is lots of proof that she is the one you're looking for!"

"I don't need people thinking stuff with no basis to back them up, Evelyn. I need to find out the truth."

"But as I was explaining…"

"I have already excluded her from the list of possible culprits."

Shard shuddered at that word. Why was he using it to describe he and Emer? It wasn't like they had done something terrible. It was Ambrose who rigged his own exam.

"Oh… but the list…"

"The list is actually why I think Rose isn't an extra. Even if there are extra students, and they're up to no good as I think they are, they wouldn't make it that obvious, would they?"

"If you say so…" Evelyn said, hardly suffocating a snarl.

"Wait. Why would there be an extra student up to no good?" Emer asked.

"Don't you know the story?" Evelyn asked.

"What story?"

"How Elik's Edge got its name," Alex clarified, shaking his head as if he had no time for any of that.

"No, actually…"

"Well, there is a cliff in the shopping district named Elik's edge. Elik was a boy who managed to get into Ravenwood to steal some magical artifacts from the shopping district. Nobody would have suspected a student. At the end of the day, he was found out stealing, and made a run for it through the whole district, leaping from the cliff."

"Did he… die?"

Alex shook his head. "Nobody knows. The body was never found, but since then, Ravenwood has forbidden its novices to borrow magical artifacts from the district, unless Ambrose specifically gives permission."

"And you think an extra student may be up to something similar?"

"Might be. At the time, a staff member had managed to help Elik get fellow couldn't be bothered with studying. Might be the same this time."

"I don't think the extra students are up to no good…" Emer said.

"Oh, really? And why do you think that? Perhaps you know one of them, or are one yourself," Alex smiled. A smile that held no happiness.

What was Emer doing? She was going to get found out! Shard didn't know what he could do to change the situation. He was the extra student, not Emer. She had been chosen by Ambrose himself while he was taken in as an afterthought.

He didn't know what made him do it. Probably his fear of what could have happened to Emer if students found out about her made him act. Regardless, when he understood what he was doing, it was already too late. His words came out in a shaky tone, "Emer… She isn't the extra student… I am."

Everyone widened their eyes in surprise and looked at him, who still sat on the bench. His jaw closed shut as if he feared his mouth would open once again and reveal anything else.

"That's… interesting," Alex said, even he seemed to be taken aback by the sudden revelation.

"That means you are the reason my friend couldn't join!" Evelyn shouted, pointing at Shard with her accusatory finger.

"He probably is, but Marta didn't deserve to be here in the first place. She didn't study enough," Alex stated matter-of-factly.

"How could you say that? I thought we were friends!"

Alex snorted."We are, but that's even more of a reason to tell both of you when you are doing something wrong. I even offered her to study together, but no. She just thought she'd pass that easily."

"I see… you know what? I don't care anymore if you are upset about your uncle! You shouldn't talk about her like that. And you… you are in for some payback," Evelyn said, addressing Shard.

The crowd of Myth students murmured behind her in agreement. They had managed to split themselves almost flawlessly, with about half of them glaring at Alex, and half of them glaring at Shard.

"Fine. If you really are that upset about it, why not let him prove himself?" Alex continued. His tone of voice was angry, but also impatient. It was obvious he wanted to finish the conversation as soon as possible.

"What do you mean?"

"A duel. Once we learn some battle magic, you will duel against him to see if he is worthy. You can even make a bet and have him leave Ravenwood upon defeat. I don't care what you decide."

Evelyn was fuming with anger, unsure on how to react. The Myth students looked at her expectantly.

"Fine." Her smile as she said it was quite similar to one of Moira's, which made Shard's legs go jelly.

"Wait a second, Shard doesn't have to prove anything!" Emer exclaimed.

Alex slowly turned to her,"oh, but he does. Either that or the fact he's an extra student will be public domain by the end of the day."

"Alex, are you threatening him?" Kane said, approaching Alex with his hands closed up into fists.

Alex's expression stayed neutral, "No. I'm actually trying to make it fair and square. If he manages to defeat Evelyn, who got a good score at the exam, nobody can say a thing. Without doing that, everyone will just keep on thinking that Shard doesn't deserve to learn magic and it will have no end."

"And that's your way of making it fair and square?" Emer rebuked.

"Yeah, I don't see what's wrong with that…"Alex seemed to become dubious once Emer had questioned his method.

Shard's head was in chaos. Could he hope to defeat another student in battle? Was it possible for him, the least talented in his Pyromancy class to do so?

"L-let's make it a two versus two, then," Rose said. "You can't know whether the extra student it's me or Shard, so both of us need to prove ourselves."

Alex seemed taken aback by Rose's words, but soon after he shrugged."Nice comeback, Rosemary Green."

"Hey, then I'll join the team. I might be the extra student too, you know?" Emer said.

"A duel sounds fun! I'm joining too!" Kane added, the anger in his words completely disappeared.

"Yeah, right. Now what, Headmaster Ambrose wants to join on your side too?" Evelyn mocked.

"Actually, it isn't that bad of an idea…" Alex said.

"What?! You can't be serious about having the Headmaster-"

"No, no. I was talking about the four versus four. Wizards need to work as a team. No better way to prove it than to win a team fight."

"Oh…" Evelyn eyed her Myth classmates warily as she thought about it. They weren't exactly giving her much of a choice with their sparkling eyes. "Fine, let them prove themselves, but Alex, you are going to fight on my side, and promise me you'll try to defeat them with everything you've got."

Alex rolled his eyes."Alright. Let's make it after Halloween, when we'll have a grasp on Battle Magic. Go and find two other teammates."

"Fine." and with that, Evelyn walked away. The other Myth students chatted as they walked away with her, asking her to have them on her team.

"See? The big bad problem was solved with no trouble at all," Alex said, eyeing Emer as if to prove a point.

"You haven't even asked Shard what he thinks about it…" Emer glared at Alex, visibly shaken by what had just happened.

"Don't worry Emer… It would have come out either way, and he did give me a chance…" Shard said.

"There, you see? Nothing to worry about. And now to business. What do you know about the incident at the Fairegrounds?"

Shard looked at Alex dumbfounded, trying to process what he had just said.

"The Faireground. My uncle. I know that you, Kane and Emer were there when it happened. Tell me everything you know."

"And you think they would tell you after you came up with that duel nonsense?" Rosemary asked.

"I kind of like the idea…"Kane said, but was silenced almost instantly by her gaze.

Shard found himself agreeing with Rose, but he also felt guilty. Alex had indeed found a solution for him. Even if it meant taking part in a duel. After all, if he couldn't fight, he was a worthless wizard, unable to protect Bartleby. Ambrose wouldn't want someone like that at Ravenwood and he needed to stay there, no matter what.

"I'll tell you everything I know about what happened at the Fairegrounds… It isn't much, but I hope it will help you find your uncle," Shard said, under the bewildered gaze of his friends.

"Good. In exchange, I won't ask anything about what Ambrose is plotting by having the likes of you join the school… yet." Alex grinned.

Shard stared at him. How much did Alex know? He shuddered at the thought and began his explanation.

* * *

 **I'm seriously taking into consideration going on a small vacation from writing FoaW. In this last chapter, I had to fight against a crippling writer's block and I'm not sure that I'll be able to keep updating frequently if I don't take a break first. Writing is hard work ya know? And in my case, I'm abusing dear ol' google translate way too much!**

 **Even if you want to stuff a sock into my mouth for me saying it too many times, I'm always open to constructive criticism and I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you think so far. Who knows, I might even get some inspiration and be back earlier than you think I would *wink wink***

 **No, seriously, I really need a vacation right now…**

 **As an older and wiser wizard once said: BLOW ME TO BERMUDA!**


	19. Unicorn's Folly

**Hello everyone, I'm back early! I had decided to take it easy and not write anything until the end of January, but somehow I found myself writing this anyways... Honestly I should try going on vacation whenever I have an impeding deadline if this is the result, lol. I hope you enjoy!**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

* * *

 **Chapter 19 – Unicorn's Folly**

* * *

It wasn't working. Fire control sessions became more intense as the days went by, and Shard still was unsure of how to correctly perform the exercise. Madame Falmea often gave him advice, trying to explain what he was doing wrong. Apparently, he was over-thinking things completely, trying to control Fire's emotion with his own thoughts while he had to just feel it.

As Shard blankly stared at his candle during the lesson, he started to think that he might be unable to succeed. There was no instinct popping up that told him how to do it, and he found himself unable to simply follow his emotions. Whenever he tried it, he would automatically start questioning whether he was doing it right and worry about random, trifling stuff, like the possibility of spreading the fire around the room if he did succeed. All of that resulted in spending the lesson drowning the little flame he was supposed to control in an endless stream of what ifs, making zero progress.

Meanwhile, most of the class had moved on to more complex stuff. Madame Falmea explained how to use Fire magic to draw a symbol midair. After that, they would have started to practice actual spells. Everyone, except Shard. Falmea couldn't risk him casting spells until he had the basics in check.

The duel was supposed to be sometime after Halloween, and he was still at square one. How could he hope to face Evelyn and Alex if he turned up to be a dead weight for his friends?

He heard Myth had been already practicing summoning, due to Professor Drake's huge amount of work. There was no way that he could compare to that. Grinding his teeth, Shard glared at the candle. The flame stayed there, flickering slightly as he tried to control it. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing at all.

Shard imagined the laughs of Alex, Evelyn, and countless other students if he turned up to the duel without being able to cast the simplest of spells. In his wild daydream, they told him to go back to the place he belonged to and stay there. Be forgotten. Magic wasn't in him, he was just a child with a half-baked Spellbook.

His breath was irregular. Boiling anger filled his chest as he tried and tried, never succeeding. Why it had to happen to him? Why couldn't he be as talented as any normal Pyromancer? Why did he have to be the dead weight?

The flame in his chest burned hotter, feeding on that anger. It almost felt it had come into existence and was attempting to consume him from the inside. Laughter. It echoed in his head, coming from the flame. Even his own mind seemed to mock him. It made him furious.

"Hey, Shard Watch it!" Kane shouted.

Shard blinked and jumped in fear. A stream of fire had erupted from his candle, climbing its way up to the ceiling, like a pillar of pure destruction. Just above Shard, in the highly fire resistant ceiling, there was a large hole. The room had gone silent. All eyes stuck on what remained of Shard's candle, lying in a puddle of wax on the desk.

Crossing gazes with Madame Falmea, Shard saw genuine surprise, maybe even too much. Before he knew it, he was running out of class, not even stopping when Falmea called him back. The awareness of having discovered how dangerous his Fire magic was, kept him from slowing down.

Without even realizing it, he found himself in Unicorn Park. Walking back and forth in a useless attempt to calm himself down. For how much he wanted to stay at Ravenwood, destroying school property wasn't something that could help him, nor incinerate nearby classmates, to tell the truth.

With shaky hands, he went for the bag. He had felt it. Words writing themselves on a blank paper. Taking his Spellbook out, he opened it. Spells. He could read them easily, as if they weren't written in illegible, unknown characters. Then, just as easily as they had appeared, the letters became unreadable. Shard blinked.

He had seen some pretty advanced spells inside, like a phoenix. How could that be? Did the Book of Secrets somehow give him a Spellbook meant for someone else?

"Are you okay, Shard?"He turned with a start, only to see Emer standing not far from him with a concerned look on her face. "Did something happen?" she insisted, slowly making her way towards him.

"It's nothing…"

"Yeah, right. Tell that to someone else."

"No, really. Just got into some trouble in class…"

"And that's why you are making a trench in the ground by walking back and forth?" she asked, sitting down on a nearby bench and tapping beside her, signaling for him to sit. Without arguing, Shard sat down next to her.

"Shouldn't you have a lesson with professor Wu?"

Emer fidgeted with her robe for a while and then said, "Yeah, but had trouble with a spell. No matter how much I tried, it almost felt like I had run out of mana. Wu told me to rest until I recovered."

"I see…" Shard kept his gaze low. He couldn't tell her about the hole in the Fire School. Not yet.

"You know…" she began, after a few minutes of utter silence, "I was surprised that you got into Fire. I just can't really see you as a Pyromancer."

Shard nodded, "I know… neither do I."

"But that doesn't mean you can't become one," she continued, turning towards him with a smile, "I'm sure the Book of Secrets saw something that neither of us can see. Let's just give it a little time."

 _It certainly saw something. The main question is if it is something that really belongs to me_ , Shard thought.

That thought never left him, for as hard as he tried to push it away, whenever he tried to control Fire, it felt like that magic was something that didn't really belong to him, but to a person who desperately wanted it back.

"So, are you going to tell me or should I entertain you with my last, wonderful deed of turning my classmate's hair into vines?" She giggled.

Shard tilted his head in confusion."What?"

"Oh, I messed up so bad there." Emer's giggling erupted in a full-fledged laughter.

It was only when Emer stopped her uncontrollable fit of giggles that Shard talked again."You… you messed up too?"

"Of course, everyone messes up at the beginning. Nothing wrong with that," she said, matter-of-factly.

"I guess you're right…"Shard replied, cracking a small smile.

They sat there for a little while more, enjoying each other's company without much talking at all. Unicorn Park soothed them with the sweet aromas of its many flowers. Leaves rustled whenever a light breeze blew, taking with it the scents of springtime. Shard felt better, as his body cooled down to a normal temperature, away from the giant-sized oven dubbed Fire School.

It was always springtime in Unicorn Way. Another reason why Shard loved hanging out with his friends on those uncomfortable stone benches or on the soft grassy fields. The place gave him hope for a new beginning, perfectly embodying his decision of starting a new life in that crazy world. A life he would have fought for.

"Aren't those Moira and Sabrina?" Emer wondered out loud, pointing towards the main road, packed with people.

"Hmm?" Shard lifted his gaze, quickly scanned the crowd and saw them. Moira, Sabrina, and two boys; one wearing a golden robe with a hoodie and the other who matched his bright red hair perfectly with a robe with yellow Fire symbols drawn all over it, walked towards the main street. Moira and the redhead brandished their wands while Sabrina and the yellow-robed one brandished staves.

"What are they up to?" Emer wondered out loud. She made an almost imperceptible movement with her leg, almost as if she was ready and walk after them to ask them directly. Instead, she turned towards Shard and said, "we'll ask next time we see them."

"Come on, Emer. No reason to restrain yourself. I know you're dying to know." Shard smirked.

"Yeah, I know that. But they have their wands out. I don't think you want to go somewhere where wands are necessary."

Shard slowly got up, ignoring the small tremble in his voice, "In fact, I don't. But I won't ever get anywhere if I keep avoiding everything magical. I mean… I'm actually studying Fire magic as of now."

Emer giggled, and stood up, dusting some dirt from her back. "I hope it's what I think it is, and they're not doing that just for show."

Shard sent a quizzical look Emer's way and she cleared up her previous statement, "They're Adepts. Students with that rank are sent out in the roads to help citizens out."

"help out with what exactly?"

"Well, keeping order, finding lost stuff or just about anything they're asked to," Emer stated, walking towards the way the way.

"But aren't there guards for keeping order?"

"Well, I only know what Rose told me. She said students are offered all sorts of odd jobs and they can even earn money from them. Mostly they let you use magic, so it is a good practice too."

"Oh… I see."

Shard sighed in relief when Emer explained it to him. It didn't seem all that bad compared to the image he had of Ravenwood Wizards. Whenever he thought of higher ranked students he conjured up the image of a bunch of people fighting tooth and nails in some faraway land, protecting the world from some powerful, dark force, maybe even dying in the process.

"Oh, sometimes Adepts are also sent to banish ghosts from houses," Emer said it out loud casually.

"If that's the case, we're not going near them…"

"Of course not," Emer rolled her eyes."It doesn't even happen often."

They soon found themselves walking in Unicorn way. The houses were tightly built around the street, which continued onwards and turned right in the distance.

"Dang, I lost them," Emer said, looking down the way to find the four wizards again.

"They must have turned the corner, it's not like there is anywhere else to go…"

There weren't many people in the street, though most of them seemed very polite and friendly. At first, Shard and Emer were taken aback by the random people sending smiles or nodding at them. Some of the bolder ones even attempted to start a conversation.

Emer got used to it fast, while Shard found it troublesome to exchange smiles with random strangers. He hoped that his attitude wasn't seen as rude in their eyes. If the people in the street thought that, they didn't show it, mostly resorting to cornering Emer in harmless conversations about the weather. A kind-looking woman even asked them if they liked being wizards, and wished them good luck with their studies.

"They do really seem to like wizards…and uh… people in general," Shard muttered.

"Yep, I guess that's how you become if you live in Unicorn Way long enough. It really feels like another world, doesn't it? The air is different." Emer beamed, waving her arm around in a fluid motion.

"Might be a bit too much now that I think of it… who knows what we're breathing…" Shard said, tentatively forcing himself to smile back to an old lady who had waved at them from the other side of the road.

Turning right at the corner, Shard and Emer quickly opened the way for a small human-like projectile that flew between them. The Sprite did an acrobatic flip, only to buzz around them in circles, "Woah, if it isn't Emer! And green robes huh? A theurgist?! You going all meditative and heal others? That's a joke, right? Hahahaha."

Emer snorted and tried to grab the sprite. "That's enough Daisy! Just let me squeeze you to thank you for your betrayal!"

The sprite evaded every one of Emer's attempts at catching her, laughing and teasing her. She even went as far as retelling some of Emer's more creative attempts at escaping from the infirmary, never failing to remind her how she never succeeded to get away from Marianne. Then, as if noticing Shard for the first time, she fluttered upwards out of reach and said, "Oh, and Shard ended up in Fire. Did the Book of Secrets go crazy this year?"

Emer finally gave up on catching Daisy and calmed down enough to say, "Anyway, what are you doing here, Daisy?"

"I live here," she stated

"Oh, but shouldn't you be working right now?"

"Oh, my dear, Emer, I am working!" the sprite revealed, pointing at herself with her tiny thumb and puffing her chest in pride.

Emer blinked, "you are?"

"Sure. I need to send a message to Lady Oriel."

"Lady Oriel?"

"The one and only. Our queen and overprotective mother wannabe." Fluttering left and right like the restless sprite she was, Daisy waved at them and turned around, "See ya folks!"

Emer, with a fast, unexpected motion, took hold of Daisy before she could fly away."Daisy, you told me Lady Oriel lived at the end of Unicorn Way…"

"Oh, you do remember…" Daisy giggled nervously.

"Why in the world are you going the other way?"

Daisy rolled her eyes, "Fine, I'll go to Lady Oriel. It's not my fault I heard Diego was teaching in the arena today… I just wanted to spy… um, watch how young and naïve wizards try to blast each other with spells!"

"Right… Whatever Marianne needs from Lady Oriel must be important. I'll come with you to the Hedge Maze," Emer said, adjusting her grip around Daisy.

"It's just some ingredients for some kind of healing potion, nothing important. It's not like that guy who needs it is going to die… yet," Daisy rebuked.

"That does sound important!" Emer commented, keeping Daisy safely imprisoned in her hold and marching forward.

As soon as Shard caught up to Emer's increased walking speed, Daisy whispered to him, "Psst! You there! Do a favor to the world and keep her from becoming a second Marianne!"

Shard shook his head and laughed. "Can't promise anything."

Daisy's and Emer's arguing was like a magnet for other people's gazes, so it wasn't a surprise that Shard felt himself under the spotlight too. Their talk accompanied their walk for quite a while, interrupted only when they had to ask for directions for the Maze. In fact, Daisy, in an attempt to spite them, refused to tell them the way.

"Oh, Not sure if you know anything about it, but have you seen some the other fairies and sprites today?" Daisy asked out of the blue.

Shard gave a quick glance around the street and shook his head, as did Emer."No."

"Weird. Those girls never fail to go all la-di-da and bother people with their unbearable goody-two-shoes talk." Daisy shrugged.

Emer gently poked the sprite's head. "Well, they're fairies. Shouldn't they be like that?"

Daisy waved her hands to push the finger away."Sure. Overly-sheltered fairies who think life is literally just sunshine and rainbows, do tend to act that way…"

"Why do you talk as if you're not like them? I mean… you are one too."

"I'll let you know that I lived a life of adventure before transferring here with them. Now if you would finally let me free, there is something I want to check," Daisy said, tapping Emer's hand, still stubbornly closed around her waist.

"Okay, just avoid flying off and forget your job…" Emer said, slowly opening up her hand.

"As if I'd do that," Daisy scoffed, fluttering her wings and gaining height." Remember that I'm older than you, more experienced and I perfectly know what I'm doing. Oh, what's that?" And having said that, the older and more experienced sprite flew off.

"At least she's flying towards the maze…" Shard offered when Emer turned to him in a pleading request for help.

They had to run to keep up with the sudden changes of direction and the speed of the sprite and they managed to reach her only when she stopped in front of a tower. The place seemed to be utterly abandoned for countless years. It stood in the middle of an overgrown garden, whose plants, not content with having free reign in the soil below, seemed to have decided to climb their way up the stone walls. A tree grew high and healthy to the side of the building, and one of its branches had grown close to the window, making it a perfect stepping stone to get inside.

"That's where they were hiding huh?! Having a party at old Delia's tower without inviting me? As if they don't know I can easily sense them, ha," Daisy shrieked, comically trying to stump her foot midair with the terrible results of losing balance. Recovering swiftly, she turned to Shard and Emer, "That door's closed, if you want to follow me, you have to climb up that tree! Let's break into that party!"

Sticking out the tongue mischievously she flew up the tree and through the window, disappearing from sight.

Emer crossed her arms over her chest, "Ugh, let's go after her. I'm not letting a poor soul suffer because of Daisy's shifting priorities."

"Climb up there?" Shard asked.

"Sure. I think nobody lives there anyway, look how dirty those windows are."

"Yeah, in the places where there is still glass to get dirty," Shard added.

Approaching the tree, Emer jumped and took hold of the lowest branch. She wobbled up and sat on it. Shard followed after her, and branch after branch, they managed to look through the window.

Daisy was flying in a room whose walls were completely hidden by dirty, black curtains. At the centre of the room, there was a wooden, round table with a single pot on it, containing a red flower with big, sickly petals.

"Hey, girls, where are you?!" Daisy shrieked, landing on the table. "Did they leave a flower to wither here all alone? That's weird."

Emer went through the window and jumped into the room with a soft huff. Shard gulped, hoping that everything would have been alright, and jumped down too. A cloud of dust lifted when he landed and he coughed it out of his lungs. The only source of light was the window from which they had come, unreachable unless they used the table to climb back up.

Rattle. Rattle.

"Daisy, I don't think they're here... And this place looks kind of creepy…" Emer said, giving nervous glances around the empty room.

Daisy approached the flower and touched it with her hand. Where she made contact propagated a soft green glow,"Oh, they're certainly here. I've got telepathic abilities remember? I can sense they're close. Let me just heal this little one and we're off."

Rattle. Rattle. Rattle.

"Did you hear that?" Shard said.

"hmm?" Daisy replied, barely acknowledging Shard's shaky tone.

Rattle. Rattle. Rattle.

Emer widened her eyes in surprise and glanced at Shard,"Daisy, I think we should-"

A sudden movement like that of a snake ambushing its prey and the flower closed its petals around Daisy, swallowing her whole.

"Daisy!" Shard and Emer screamed the sprite's name as they rushed towards the table, lifting puffs of dust with their shoes.

As quickly as they had reacted to try and save Daisy, they backed away. The rattling of bones against bones revealed a figure just behind the flower, half shrouded in the shadows of the room. A skeleton wearing a dark helmet and armed with sword and shield looked at them. Only one socket of his skull was filled with an eye, which seemed to glow when the soft light streaming down from the window illuminated it. The lack of lips and flesh made it hard to understand whether the skeleton was angry or amused, its white teeth exposed in what appeared to be a grin. The mouth opened and closed tentatively as if it hadn't been used for a while.

"Well, well, well, seems like I have guests."

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and as always, constructive criticism is welcome. As you can tell, I'm not sticking closely to the game's main storyline, choosing to avoid putting in dialogues which I'm sure most of us have read way too many times. If you feel like it, tell me what you liked and what you didn't like, it Always makes my day hearing from you :D**

 **Have a fantastic day and to next time!**


	20. Rattling Bones

**Hello everyone! I won't fill my A/N with the chain of events that led me to finish the chapter earlier than usual. Just think of it as me being happy and wanting to surprise you with a new chapter! Oh my gosh, I managed to get this thing to 20 chapters, I didn't believe I could overcome my laziness. We surpassed the halfway point in the Wizard City Arc! I'll eat a cookie :D**

 **To Iron-ninja: Indeed, he should have known :P**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs. I do not own any other thing you might recognize either.**

* * *

 **Chapter 20 – Rattling Bones**

* * *

How could he have been that stupid? It happened just like at the Fairegrounds. They got somewhere they shouldn't and ended up in trouble. And though that time it had been all an illusion and the enemies were all fake, exception made for the raven, this time the skeleton was very real.

It was with an air of pure indifference that the skeleton ignored the two novices. Bending down, he picked up a small birdcage from under the table, something Shard hadn't noticed when he had looked at the room from above, and placed it near the flower.

"Spit!" He ordered, keeping the little door of the cage opened in the plant's direction. The flower responded to the skeleton's order and obeyed reluctantly, unceremoniously spitting Daisy out. The little door closed the second Daisy was thrown inside, giving her no time to react.

"Who are you and what have done to everyone else?"Daisy screeched, once she found her way to her feet. She lost balance and fell on her back when the skeleton shook the cage in reply.

"This one's really combative…" the undead muttered, smirking the sprite. "You'll understand soon enough my dear, soon enough."

"Leave her be! Y-You monster!"Emer shouted across the room, brandishing her wand, with unsteady grip at the skeleton. It was clear she didn't dare to approach him, given that he possessed quite a sharp sword and probably knew how to use it to cut Ravenwood novices.

"Monster you say? You hurt me, my dear. You too will understand soon enough. No worries, no worries, Rattlebones will fix everything," he half spoke, half muttered, caressing the cage containing Daisy and eyeing the little sprite with morbid intensity.

Looking at Emer and her readiness at taking out her wand, Shard recalled that he owned one too, which, unfortunately, was safely kept in a little box in his bag, mostly unused except for class.

If only he had it in hand, he could pretend to know how to cast spells and try to scare away the skeleton who called himself Rattlebones. Emer had probably reached that conclusion way ahead of him, and even though Shard doubted she could cast any battle magic yet, she was performing a believable act of pretending to know what she was doing.

"I can smell your fear, young Wizards. No reason to act tough, there is nowhere you can go," Rattlebones spoke, making a slow, confident step forward.

Shard's gaze went to the door. He wasn't sure whether it was possible for them to use it to escape. Maybe the skeleton was confident because it was locked. Their only reliable way of getting out of there was the window which was too high for them to reach.

Daisy's cage didn't seem that hard to open. It was rusty and old, as if Rattlebones had found one in the trash can and re-used it for his evil purposes. If only Shard could reach it, he could save Daisy. That was at least a step in the right direction.

 _When did I even get so daring?_ He thought.

The perfect chance to put the plan into practice came soon after. Rattlebones lunged forward to stab Emer with his sword and the girl screamed in surprise, unleashing a bolt of green magic from the tip of her wand, surprising both Shard and the skeleton. The skeleton's head flew off after the blast and crashed into the nearby wall.

Shard's legs felt like jelly, but he ignored his fears, half dashing and half stumbling his way to Rattlebones' body. Taking hold of the bird-cage, he attempted to pull it out of his grasp. What he didn't account for, was that the skeleton possessed incredible strength and could move without his head. Rattlebones was on him in seconds, the blade at his throat.

Daisy shrieked in anger and shouted something about his foolishness from the cage which was now on the floor, dropped in the scuffle. Shard wasn't listening to her words. His skin crawled where the metal touched him, almost as if it was attempting to withdraw from the cold touch of its metal. An evil energy radiated from it and in that instant Shard knew that if he was even cut by it, the consequences would have been disastrous.

" _Do not move you two… Do as he says, I'll try to call for help,"_ Daisy's voice pierced through Shard's mind, carrying with to a wave of barely hidden panic. Daisy's abilities! How could he forget?

"And now, You will do as I say, Theurgist, or your friend is going to taste a blade enchanted by Malistaire himself," Rattlebones spat. The voice coming from his head, lying upside down in a corner.

Emer glared at him, her body as still as a statue. The following word she said left her mouth with difficult, like a stubborn baby tooth."Alright…"

"Drop your wand," Rattlebone commanded. The sound of a wand falling on the ground followed. "Good, now kick it towards me." The wand rolled on the dusty floor.

Rattlebones chuckled and his ribcage followed his voice in a rattling laugh. His strong, skeletal hand took a firm hold of Shard's neck. Shard found himself dragged down towards the floor. The wand close to him enough to pick up. Thoughts drifted in his mind. The wand. A spell.

"If you value your life. Snap the wand, boy," Rattlebones ordered.

It was a cruel joke. Rattlebones would make him do it.

Shard's shaky hand took hold of the wand, thoughts blurring as his mind raced. A spell. He could defeat Rattlebones with a spell! He could cast something, right? If not then, when else could he try?

"I said. Snap the wand, boy," Rattlebones ordered again, pressing the blade harder on Shard's throat. If his skin could grow a mouth, it would have done so, if only just to scream out in protest for the horrible feeling that traveled through it. Death Magic, a powerful enchantment. It didn't hold fear and little tricks to misguide the victim, but a simple and cruel truth, whispered by the metal; a fast demise.

Shard gulped. He couldn't use spells when he didn't know any and he still had no idea how Emer had managed send that blast of magic out. His gaze made his way to Emer. She stood there and nodded, her jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed as if she didn't dare to look.

Surely there must be another way.

 _SNAP_

The loud snap echoed and lingered in the room, followed by an interminable instant of complete silence. Emer closed her eyes and as if that wasn't enough, looked away.

In the end, he couldn't think of another way.

After he had performed the deed, Shard didn't even raise his gaze as he was dragged by Rattlebones to the side of the room, neither was he surprised when the black veil opened of its own accord, revealing a human-sized cage.

"Get inside, girl," Rattlebones commanded, pressing the blade once again on Shard's neck so as to remind Emer to avoid upsetting him. There must have been a telepathic exchange between Daisy and Emer, because the girl widened her eyes and gave the sprite a quick, surprised glance, entering the cage without further complaining and leaving her bag outside on Rattlebones' insistence. As she passed by, she weakly smiled to Shard, a gesture meant to comfort him and to let him know that she was okay with her wand being snapped.

Shard was thrown inside, though, Rattlebones made sure to take his bag from him, for good measure. With a small chuckle, the skeleton slammed the door shut behind them. Something cracked under Shard as he tried to sit up. When he inspected it better, he felt sick; countless small bones littered the floor of the cell, and he had cracked a few of them with his own weight.

"Have fun in there. There are many little friends for you to talk to, and a few larger ones as well!" Rattlebones said, his single eye glinting with malice in the dimly lit room. "I have always fixed fairies 'till now. The only experiences with humans were met with utter failure. Perhaps you can be fixed though, oh yes. Never tried it on novice wizards, just old Delia."

"What do you mean…"Emer started, but then she noticed the larger bones, amassed all together in a shadowy angle of the cell.."That's…" she choked, "and these…" Shard couldn't see her, but he could bet she was turning green, much like him.

"Never seen such a pretty collection of bones have you? I had to work quite a lot to make it comfy!" he laughed. A long, chilling, maniacal laugh.

Rattlebones walked to the table and lifted the flower up above his head, staring at it for a few tense seconds. Anger flickered in his only eye and the vase was dropped to the ground with a loud crash, fragments of porcelain flying all over the place.

"Will you stop crying out for help?! It's annoying!" He turned towards Daisy, who hadn't uttered a single word for a while. Daisy's expression was one of terror when Rattlebones called her out. Could Rattlebones hear her telepathy? And from the way he acted… Was he even aware it was telepathy?

The skeleton shook his head and eyed Daisy with disdain. "Your screams won't reach anyone, you and I are alone, my prized guests." He stopped talking abruptly, stiffening up and staring into blank space. His hands shot to his head, the sword dropping on the floor with a clunk." Oh, but if they knew… if they knew. Nobody can hear. Oh, no, no, no. Master won't be happy if they hear."

Rattlebones muttered some other incomprehensible stuff for a little while, nobody daring to interrupt his insane ramblings. After he calmed down, he seemed to remember his sword, picked it up and sheathed it. Chuckling to himself as if he heard an impossibly funny joke, he made his way to the rest of the black curtains which adorned the walls. With fast and violent movements, he tore down the cloth, revealing more cages, way smaller than the one Shard and Emer were locked in.

Shard gasped in horror. Fairies. Countless fairies, dressed in purple clothing, shrieked inside the small cages, their faces morphed in evil grins and their chatter an endless stream of dark whispers. They threw themselves at the metal bars like moths on a candle, begging Rattlebones to get out.

"Don't worry my dark fairies, the time to wreak havoc in Unicorn way is near! Who knows, maybe one of you is going to put an end to Lady Oriel herself!" he cheered.

All fairies cheered with him in unison. Some of them even improvising a small dance.

"T-They…They're suffering…"Emer muttered with a horrified look and her hand on her chest. Shard nodded, though his friend wasn't looking at him. Those tears streaming down their small faces which one could mistakenly assume to be of joy, where nothing more than feeble cries of help. The fairies both cheered and mourned at the orders of their cruel master.

Rattlebones snickered and exited the room, carrying Daisy with him, muttering something about preparing the Fairy Queen for the fight. Just as he left, the fairies stopped cheering, ceasing any movement. Whispers. They started whispering among themselves with words filled with evil intent.

"We have to save them…" Emer choked, turning back at Shard with teary eyes.

"Sorry to break your bubble, Emer, but it seems we are the ones in need of saving right now," Shard replied. As soon as those words left his mouth, something stirred behind them. Bones rattled and moved, coming to life. The small skeletons of fairies rebuilding themselves under Shard's and Emer's terrified gazes.

Small arms clawed the air, trying to get a grip on them, dark whispers echoed in the room, coming both from the bones under them and the dark fairies closed in the other cages. The words carried promises of freedom, promises of eternal rest.

Emer screamed, kicking the bones out of the way and throwing herself at the bars. Shard attempted to do the same, but his movements felt sluggish and his head was spinning.

 _The dragon flew over them. His fiery breath incinerating everything in sight. Buildings crumbling down like castles of cards. People's screams scattering in the wind and fading. The big Crystals sparkled brightly with many different colors, reflecting the light coming from the raging inferno around him. He couldn't stand up, his legs too weak, and his will to fight extinguished. A staff held tight in his hand, a simple staff with a blue sparkling gem on top. The dragon couldn't be stopped. Dragonspyre had fallen._

With difficulty, he snapped out of it. The bones had amassed themselves around him, trying to make him stumble down so that they could submerge him. Clawed, skeletal, tiny hands shredded his sleeves as he pulled the arm away.

Emer wasn't faring too well either, her movements grew weary as she panted for breath. "We… have to get out of here!" she shouted. The sound coming out of her mouth muffled by the whispers. They were more insistent, asking him to join them with renewed vigor.

He didn't want for it to end like that. He didn't want to join Rattlebones. It was wrong. It was a horrible thought.

Nevertheless, the more he feared it, the more he felt it was the right thing to do. Just let him do whatever he wanted, only then, his fear would stop. No! That was exactly what Rattlebones wanted, for them to surrender to him.

 _And why is it that bad?_ A voice spoke in the back of his mind. He ignored it. It was Death magic at work, he had to avoid listening to those whispers. Yet the whispers stayed with him and begged him to see reason. To try out what Death had to offer. Sweet, honeyed words and ushered promises.

"Don't listen to them…. Don't…"Emer muttered as terror took hold of her features.

A sudden crash made the whispers stop abruptly and the bones stop moving, collapsing on the floor. Shards of glass rained down on the floor as light filtered through from the window.

"What?! Who are you? How?!" Rattlebones climbed down from the top floor in a hurry, shielding his eye with his hand from the sudden luminosity.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"Make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people… um… What was next?"

"Ugh, Flint, you're hopeless, and here I thought you could remember a few lines…"

"Yeah, right… A few lines that make no sense. Just what kind of shows do you have on your home-world?"

"Awesome ones. Try to argue, and I'll push you down there with that poor excuse of an undead."

A boy and a girl stood on the window's edge. The boy, quite tall and probably around sixteen years of age, sported bright red hair and mischievous black eyes with features suspiciously similar to Kane's. He wore a showy, red robe with a golden Fire symbol drawn on the chest. He scratched the back of his head and smirked at the girl beside him. The girl, on the other hand, was easily recognizable even from afar due to her black robes and beret with red trimmings.

"Oh, there's also Shard and Emer! Hello there!" Moira said, waving at the cage.

"Shard and Emer?" The boy asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Two novices who pretty much seem to be trouble magnets," Moira shrugged.

"Just who are you? And how did you manage to find my secret lair?" Rattlebones asked, not hiding his surprise.

"Yeah, right. Introductions first. I'm Moira Nightdust and this is my teammate, Flint Fireblade. Pleasure to meet you… um… Spooky Bob?"

"Rattlebones!" Rattlebones hissed in indignation.

"Yeah, right, as if I'd believe that…"

"Rattlebones raised his punch in defiance, "You shall-!" He never got to finish as his sentence was cut off when a large cat, completely made of fire appeared out of thin air.

"Meeeoww!" It clawed at Rattlebones with its huge paws as if he was a ball of yarn, then it bit his head off and ran away with it with the rest of Rattlebones' body chasing after it, uselessly waving his sword.

Shard blinked twice, rubbed his eyes, and blinked a few times more. "What just…?"

"Nothing much, we just saved the day. The usual routine for my team." Flint winked.

"Yeah, right. If anything, this is my team, you egocentric fool," Moira said, nonchalantly pushing Flint on the back, and making him fall from the window down on the floor.

"Hey! You could have made me fall on the glass!"Flint rebuked, glaring at Moira, who was smirking at him from above.

She sighed. "I know. Unfortunately, I have terrible aim…"

Flint was about to reply when the door burst open and a voice shouted, "Who gave you permission to rush ahead?! We had a plan, Nolan was ready to be the bait!" Sabrina entered the room with her arms crossed over her chest."You can't just keep doing whatever you want…"

"Listen, as much as I would have loved to dress Nolan up as a fairy…" Moira started.

"No buts!" Sabrina thundered.

"Yes, mom," both, Moira and Flint replied, in a monotonous voice.

Sabrina sent a dangerous glare their way, but upon seeing the cages full of dark fairies, she gasped. "What did he do? Did… Did he turn them like that?"

"Yep, and was attempting to do something with those two," Moira said, pointing at Shard and Emer, who kept staring at the new arrivals as if they were a mirage.

"Why are you here?" Sabrina frowned.

Emer was the first to snap out of her confusion and ignoring Sabrina's question, she said, "Please, you have to save Daisy! She's on the upper floor."

Sabrina nodded in understanding and made a run for the upper floor, disappearing from sight. Meanwhile, Flint made a run for the larger cell, freeing Shard and Emer just as easily. The feeling of dread lessened when they got out of the cell and made a beeline for the room's center.

Moira, on the other hand, strolled along the walls, peering into the little cages as if she was visiting a zoo. "Seems like it's too late," Moira shrugged.

"Just, how does this work?" Flint asked, warily eyeing the cages.

"Those bones are enchanted with a very strong beguile spell. If too much time passes and it grows roots in the victim's mind, it's quite hard to reverse the effects… Impossible for some," Moira explained, poking a particularly angry dark fairy with the tip of her wand.

Emer shakily raised her voice to be heard. "But you must be able to do something… They never wanted this! Can't you see how cruel it is?"

Moira laughed. "You're asking the wrong person for the saving. The best I can do is to put an end to their suffering."

Emer seemed devastated, her hand going to her chest and her head shaking slightly as if to deny what Moira had just said.

Sabrina made her way down, carrying Daisy's cage. She seemed to have heard the discussion because she went out of her way to give Moira the cage and clear things up with Shard and Emer. "Moira meant that we can't do much for them right now, but I'm sure Lady Oriel and Professor Wu, given enough time… can heal every fairy without much trouble."

Emer relaxed after hearing those words and managed a small smile."Alright. And, um… Thanks for the help."

"No problem."

Shard, on the other hand, made his way to the room's corner, where Rattlebones had previously placed their stuff. He got his bag and returned Emer's, casting his glance to the remains of her wand on the floor.

Emer noticed, and upon taking back her bag, she reassured him. "It's not the end of the world. I can always buy another one."

"Not so fast wizards!" the raspy voice of Rattlebones echoed from the corner.

Everyone jumped, except for Moira, who just eyed Flint with an I-told-you-so smirk. "Told you I had to fight him. I always finish my battles."

"Sheesh," Flint replied, looking away as his cheeks slightly reddened. "I'll finish him fast."

Rattlebones didn't seem too happy about it. He had finally managed to dispatch the Firecat with a lucky slash, getting his head back. His eye darted from Flint to Moira almost like he was trying to decide who would be the first to suffer his wrath. "Oh, really? Then let's take this outside. It is time, my fairies. Unicorn Way will fall today!"

Shard felt a chill across his spine as soon as those words were pronounced. The cages opened on their own with a clank as if a spell had just been cast. The dark fairies, realizing they were free, went crazy.

"Everyone get out!" Sabrina ordered, pointing at the door.

"Sabrina, less bossing, more running!" Flint shouted dragging her with him as everyone made a dash for the exit, chased down by a huge cloud of giggling Dark fairies who were all too happy to unleash their fury on the young wizards.

* * *

 **I wanted to give Rattlebones a bit more personality than the usual 'I will stop you' speech. It is kind of a let down on a character who is able to do something as intriguing as corrupting fairies. At the end of it all, I ended up writing him a tad bit crazy.**

 **I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and, as always, constructive criticism is most welcome.**


	21. Fairy Dust

**A/N: Hello everyone!**

 **I finally managed to get this one out… Had to rewrite it completely at one point because it just didn't come out how I wanted it to… Not that I managed to get satisfied with this version either, but at least it is a tad bit better. It's a longer chapter because I just had to cram a lot of stuff in it. Oh, I even tested out a new way to separate scenes, hopefully it works better. I hope you enjoy! :)**

 **To Iron-ninja: Yep, there is more than one person from Earth in FoaW and also... pikachu for president! :)**

 **I do not own wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

* * *

 **Chapter 21 – Fairy Dust**

* * *

Shard gaped in horror. The tower was shrouded in a swarm of dark fairies, who circled around it like bees defending their nest. Soon, they flew up in the sky, cheering for their freedom and scattering in all directions. He could see everything clearly even from a safe distance away.

"Just… How many did he corrupt?" Sabrina said in a lament.

Flint pointed his wand to the sky, "No matter how many there are. It just means it will take a bit more time for us to defeat all of them!" he cast a short incantation and a blast of fire was sent upwards, missing a bunch of dark fairies due to their distance.

"Let's avoid that! Remember, they used to take care of Unicorn Way. Without them, Life Magic in the street will disappear." Sabrina said, taking a firm grip on Flint's arm and making him lower the wand. "Maybe it's for the best to contact Ambrose. Daisy's telepathy should come in handy."

Moira snapped her fingers and grinned. "For once, smart thinking Sabrina!"

Sabrina rolled her eyes and stretched her hand towards Moira. A few awkward seconds passed and Moira tilted her head in confusion."What?"

"Daisy, I gave her to you earlier, take her out so that we can ask her," Sabrina said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh."Moira widened her eyes in surprise and patted her pockets, shook her head and looked in her bag. Lifting her gaze and shrugging, she said in a way too cheerful tone, "Sorry, must have dropped her somewhere."

"You what?!"

"Back in the tower…"

"No way!"

"It's not a tragedy," Moira waved her hand as if to dismiss it, but had to brace herself for Sabrina's lecture.

"You just dropped the person we were supposed to save and treat it as nothing! If it weren't for Daisy's telepathic message we wouldn't have even known the fairies were kept hostage!" Sabrina's accusatory finger was pointed towards Moira like a weapon. The theurgist's words coming out in a flurry as he cheeks turned bright red, making it look like she was about to explode in anger. "I gave her to you for safekeeping!" She spat.

Flint sighed and shook his head, seemingly used to such outbursts. Taking hold of Sabrina's robe, he anticipated her actions and restrained her from outright assaulting Moira and probably strangle her with her bare hands.

"Yeah, you messed up big time, Sabrina," Moira shook her head and sighed."You will learn, eventually."

"but… but… What?" If looks could kill, Moira would have probably been reduced to nothing more than a meager pile of ashes.

"You should know by now not to give me random stuff without specifically telling me what to do with it! I tend to think differently from you, remember?"

Everyone looked at Moira in disbelief. Emer had gone pale after the revelation that her friend was somewhere in the tower with Rattlebones and his swarm of dark fairies. Shard eyed Moira with suspicion; the fact that he couldn't tell whether she had done it on purpose or she was just being defensive about her mistake. He couldn't believe a Ravenwood student would have done something like that.

"Come on girls, stop arguing. I'm sure Moira wasn't paying attention…" Flint started, trying to calm them down before the discussion degenerated into a fight. Whatever he was going to say, was abruptly cut off by Sabrina.

"Watch out!" She shouted, freeing herself from Flint's grip. Her staff was raised upwards and she chanted a small incantation. The image of a winged helm flashed for an instant in front of the theurgist and a green barrier slowly formed around the group, sparkling with the power of Life magic. Soft crackles filled the air, like that of a fire consuming wood.

Shard found the source of the noise soon enough. Tiny particles of dust fell down from the sky like snow, shining brightly in shades of dark purple. They spiraled down from the swarms of dark fairies above, slowly descending upon Unicorn Way.

The dust wasn't able to go through Sabrina's ward, much to Shard's relief, but everywhere else, once they landed, they dissolved in black vapor, leaving no proof at all that they had actually fallen from the sky. What chilled the blood in Shard's veins, however, wasn't the dust itself, seemingly harmless, but its effect on the plant life of the street; trees and plants withered upon touch and healthy gardens dried up and died all throughout the street.

Sabrina eyed the swarm surrounding the tower with a mixed expression of pity and anger. "Rattlebones talked about Lady Oriel, I'm sure they'll head to the Hedge Maze soon. Let's regroup with Nolan and think of our next step." Looking back at Delia's Tower and the swarm of dark fairies that guarded it, almost like they had no idea what to do with their regained freedom, Sabrina sighed. "As for Daisy, you'll be back and do something about it later, Moira"

"Fine," Moira said. Waving her wand in the air, another ward, resembling a thin layer of black mist, formed around the young wizards, reinforcing Sabrina's spell. Satisfied with herself, Moira gave a quick glance around and sniffed the air like a wolf following the scent of food. Licking her lips and relaxing in a grin, she pointed to a nearby building. "Nolan is in there. His fear has that… snobbish touch if you know what I mean."

Both Sabrina and Flint nodded at the comment, seemingly understanding what Moira meant. Following the Necromancer's lead, they headed down the road, ignoring the increasingly desperate attempts of the dark fairies to get through their wards with their dust. To Shard, despite the seriousness of the situation, it oddly felt like safely walking under an umbrella on a rainy day.

The inhabitants of Unicorn Way had found refuge inside their houses and eyed the outdoors with caution. Nobody dared to make a move against the fairies, nor they walked down the road with wards like the young wizards were doing. It was in times like these when it became apparent that, despite the name, most of Wizard City's population wasn't made up of wizards.

"Stormgate! Are you there?!" Moira shouted once she got in front of the entrance door to the house.

"Moira?" a boy replied, the door opening up to reveal a boy, seemingly Moira's age and dressed up with a dress of green leaves ending up in a miniskirt, green leafy shoes, and fake butterfly-like wings departing from his back.

"Do you really think it's time for you to be lazy?" Moira thundered, slamming her palm on the door and opening it up once more as to avoid the boy from closing it in her face.

"I'm not being lazy! There are people who need protection here, and I'm the only one powerful enough for the job, despite you trying to turn me into a fairy!" Nolan replied, trying hard to straighten up and appear dignified despite his fake wings fluttering left and right.

"Yeah, do tell me about it," Moira said, rolling her eyes. "We need to get to Headmaster Ambrose, like right now, so don't bring up any excuse."

"I don't think that's going to be easy. Have you seen the sky? It's full of dark fairies! I might not make it there and I'm obviously the most powerful among us."

Sabrina pushed Moira aside and lifted her staff in a rapid motion. The boy had just the time to blink once and emit a half-hearted groan when a poof of smoke enveloped him. Once the smoke disappeared, the fairy outfit had changed color, becoming similar to that of a dark fairy.

"Wha-? Why?"

Sabrina rolled her eyes and ignored the snickers coming from Moira and Flint. "Listen, I worked hard to enchant that outfit and you will put it to use. Go find Ambrose, it's important."

"Are you sure the enchantment will work and they'll think I'm one of them?" Nolan asked, eyeing his outfit with utter disgust. "And why did you bound it to me with magic?! I can't take it off!"

"I'm sure. We were going to use it to bait out Rattlebones anyway, why shouldn't it also work on dark fairies?"

"But..."

"Just go, already!" Moira shouted, putting her hands on her hips in an unspoken threat.

"Okay, okay, I'm going…" As Nolan ran off, Sabrina chanted a spell and the thin outline of a barrier enveloped him.

After fairy-Nolan disappeared from sight, they entered the house and saw that there were indeed a bunch of people hiding inside. From children to adults, humans and other races alike. They were all sitting or standing up in the living room, sending nervous glances to the window. A man wearing armor and held a spear in his hand came to meet them at the door.

"Thank Bartleby, other wizards. I hope the situation will be resolved soon."

"Don't worry private, we're on it," Sabrina reassured him, smiling at the people as if nothing was wrong. It had been a rather abrupt switch from the attitude she deserved to her teammates. "We sent Nolan to fetch Ambrose and the professors, it won't be long."

"The fairy boy… right? Not sure why he was dressed like that, but he threatened to release the wards around the house if we questioned it," The private said, shifting his spear in his hands.

"Yep, don't worry, there is a reason for that outfit. He is trustworthy. Most of the time that is..." Moira replied.

The private seemed to relax and asked a couple more questions. By the time he let them be, Sabrina had given him a run-down of Rattlebones and his plan. The private, who introduced himself as Private O'ryan, walked towards the rest of the citizens and updated the people himself. From what Shard could hear, his words were carefully selected to avoid triggering mass hysteria.

"What's the plan, Sabrina?" Flint said as the three adepts made their way to the room's corner in search of privacy. Judging from Sabrina's strict look, Shard and Emer should have had to stay put and leave matters to them. They had just been rescued after all, and novices couldn't do much anyways.

They sat down, away from the crowd and close to the window, looking outside as Unicorn Way withered under the deadly effect of the dust. The dark fairies' themselves, had started to fly progressively lower, exploring the street and making all sorts of mischief. Giggling and chattering, they threw pebbles at the windows in an attempt to break them, they stole clothes hanging out to dry and dropped them in the closest puddle of mud available, and at one point, they even got their hands on what appeared to be bright red paint, scarring the faces of the buildings with meaningless doodles.

It didn't exactly look like a dangerous situation if it weren't for the dark dust piling up and draining the life out of anything it landed on.

Despite it all. The thing that troubled Shard the most, was a memory. The memory of Emer's wand, broken and useless on the tower's floor. If only he hadn't been so useless, he could have done something, anything. Maybe things could have gone differently and Daisy could have been saved too.

He shook his head. It was Moira's fault that Daisy wasn't safe and sound. It was her who left the sprite in the tower. He told himself that like a kind of mantra, but an insistent thought kept nagging at the back of his mind.

He hadn't checked on Daisy at all during the escape, thinking first and foremost about his own safety. A selfish and useless person, who would rather snap his friend's wand instead of even trying to help. That was who he was. The truth was painful. He hadn't even tried to cast the spell, giving up as soon as Rattlebones had raised his voice. Yet he wanted to desperately be better than that. He owed it to the people who came to be his friends in Wizard City.

 _Will I ever learn? Even now, I'm so wrapped up in myself that I don't pay attention to others_ , he thought bitterly.

Lifting his eyes from the floor he looked at Emer. Her skin was pale and her eyes flickered restlessly from the window to Sabrina. A couple of times she glanced at the door and her body tensed. It was clear she didn't like how the Adepts were losing time when Daisy was in danger.

"They will save Daisy, I'm sure," Shard tried to reassure her.

Emer jolted after being addressed so suddenly. She eyed the window once again and nodded, "I hope so."

The Adepts had finally finished their little talk, and while Sabrina and Flint headed straight for the door, Moira approached Shard and Emer. "They're going to the Hedge Maze to warn Lady Oriel of the incoming threat, go figure." She didn't seem too happy about the plan.

"And Daisy?" Emer asked weakly.

"Oh, I do get to make a quick trip to Delia's Tower and fix my little… mistake," Moira said, patting Emer on the head. "Do not worry, my dear. Daisy won't die just yet." After she had said that, she went to the door and followed her teammates out of the house.

A terrible feeling spread in Shard's stomach despite Emer's seemingly improved mood. Moira had promised wouldn't have died, not that she wasn't going to be corrupted. It was an omission that he couldn't ignore.

"Everything is going to be alright. Moira will save Daisy and the Professors will solve the problem with the fairies." Emer's confidence made Shard smile. It wasn't that he believed that everything would have been solved that easily, but hearing it from Emer, made him doubt his own pessimistic predictions. Maybe things weren't as bleak as they seemed.

His mind didn't change though, and looking at the dark fairies thrashing Unicorn Way, he took a decision. Rummaging through his bag, Shard took out the box containing his wand, offering it to Emer. "Take it. As you said, things will be resolved, but in case the worst happens, you are the only one who can use magic among us. Not to mention, I did break yours…"

"Not a chance. It's your wand and I know for certain that if you put your mind into it, you can cast something." Emer pushed the box away from her, back towards Shard.

"Aren't you a bit overly optimistic here?"

"And aren't you overly pessimistic?"

"Whatever."

Shard took the wand out of the box and held it tight in his hand. The light outside dimmed, filtered out by the dust, almost like it reacted to his own thoughts. He hoped he didn't have to use it. He really did.

"You know… I'm sorry for what happened to your wand. I didn't want to break it." He talked after a few minutes of silence, not thinking things through.

"Come on, it's not a big deal. I'm sure I'll get a new one once all of this is over," Emer replied softly.

Not even fifteen minutes had passed since Moira had left when the door slammed open, and she marched into the house as angry as a cat who had been forced to take a bath.

"Moira… you were fast!" Emer exclaimed, getting to her feet and rushing to her.

"You two… we're going to the Hedge Maze, now," Moira said in a tone that left no room for replies. The Private, who startled by the sudden noise, was brandishing his spear, didn't even have the courage to object as the two novices were dragged out in the street.

* * *

 ** _Fragment of a Wish_**

* * *

Shard and Emer walked as close as possible to the Necromancer, paying attention to stay under her protective ward. Moira didn't tell them much at all after barging into the house and fundamentally kidnapping Shard and Emer under the Private's bewildered gaze. From time to time, Dark fairies flew down from above, tackling Moira's ward, just to be repelled and fly back up.

"Daisy wasn't in the tower and the fairies are preparing to strike, we've got to save those two… I mean, how stupid can you be to play the hero's role and just dive straight into the most dangerous place without much of a plan?" Moira snarled.

She angrily waved her wand towards a group of dark fairies in her way. The swarm was scattered with violence, almost like a huge invisible hand had pushed it aside.

"Was Daisy... corrupted?" Emer asked, eyeing the sky as if she could find her friend if she looked long enough.

"Most likely."

The news hit Shard harder than he imagined they would have. His relationship with the sprite was superficial; they merely talked a couple of times when he went to visit Emer at the Infirmary. Nonetheless, it felt horrible to lose her to Rattlebones' corruption.

"Why are we heading to the Hedge Maze?" Shard asked, looking at the fairies, who were slowly gathering up in a huge swarm up ahead. "Isn't it dangerous?"

"It is, but Rattlebones isn't the only enemy," Moira increased her pace as she explained, forcing Shard and Emer to keep up to listen to her. "We have to beware of Daisy. I saw her leaving the tower and well, she has certainly grown an interesting and dangerous personality."

"Daisy? Dangerous?" Emer asked. The novice Theurgist quickened her pace to hear out what the necromancer would have replied.

"Believe it or not, Daisy is now the new Fairy Queen. Just look at the dark fairies. Didn't you notice how their behavior changed?" Moira seemed almost amused as she pointed her wand upwards.

Shard and Emer looked up and saw what Moira meant. Since flying out of the tower, the corrupted fairies had scattered everywhere, doing whatever they pleased, but now, they moved in an orderly manner, heading in the same direction as if summoned by an irresistible order.

Moira lowered her wand and adjusted her beret. Her tone of voice held what could be perceived as mild curiosity and respect. "She is using he telepathy for control. Who could have thought that little thingy could do something like that?"

The trek through the street continued in silence. Unicorn Way looked like a ghost town. Nothing moved as people had barricaded themselves in their homes, waiting for the wizards to solve the problem. Those that couldn't make it, lied sprawled on the ground like lifeless puppets, covered with a thin layer of purple let out a horrified gasp and covered her eyes once she understood what had happened. Shard's gaze lingered on the bodies for a while, unable to think of them as anything more than asleep.

"We can't do anything for them." Moira waved her wand impatiently while whispering few arcane words. The pavement shattered and three ghouls clawed their way out of the ground. Without Moira ordering them, they started dragging the unconscious people all in one place. Once they were done, the Adept Necromancer waved her wand again and black barrier, similar to the one raised around her and the two novices, surrounded the bodies. "Won't let them be used for Necromancy though." She winked.

"Why are you bringing us with you?" Shard dared to ask. It was a question that had been bugging him since Moira had taken them out of the house.

"Simple, I'm not letting my teammates getting seriously hurt, despite what they might think of me, nor will I leave you under the care of clumsy private O'ryan. Remember, Daisy is out there somewhere controlling an army of fairies, she knows you, can sense you, and therefore will find you."

Emer widened her eyes and stumbled. Righting herself up again, she asked, "why would she look for us? She is evil now, right?"

"Corrupted," Moira corrected as if the term made a whole world of difference."Corruption, no matter of which kind, makes you feel dirty. You escaped before Rattlebones could have his way with you, and she might come to resent that. Resent those that aren't cursed like her… "

"But then, shouldn't we wait for the Professors? We could have waited for them with the private," Shard argued.

Moira snorted, seemingly growing impatient of explaining stuff," The dark fairies weren't flying around just for show. Look at the sky! Rattlebones worked hard since he occupied Delia's tower. Now we have to deal with a needlessly powerful ward around Unicorn Way. No porting allowed, and I could swear they won't let anyone close enough to the maze."

She then pointed her wand at the dead body of a man in green robes, overcome by the effect of the dust. "The wizards here are no help either, they wouldn't harm their precious fairies and try to turn them back with dire consequences."

"You sure know a lot about it, don't you?" Shard eyed Moira suspiciously.

"Of course, not for anything I have my secret way of gathering info," she stopped in her tracks and turned to look at them with a grin. "Want to know it?"

Shard nervously glanced at the countless dark fairies which encircled them, staying away from Moira's wards and eyeing them with malice. The assaults may have stopped, but he wasn't exactly sure that stopping in the middle of the street to reveal a means of gathering info was the right way to survive.

Moira didn't wait for an answer from them and whispered, "I observe my surroundings, obviously. That and I make up stuff. It usually works."

Shard blinked. "eh?"

Moira resumed her walk and laughed."I'll just tell you at this point, otherwise, it's no fun. It's obvious that staying with the private was the safest option for you. Daisy would have been far too busy attacking Lady Oriel to look for you, probably…"

Shard and Emer stared at Moira in bewilderment. They didn't dare to get away from the Necromancer, fully aware that the dark fairies awaited for them just outside the ward.

"In case it isn't clear enough. Your presence in the Hedge maze will be an irresistible bait for Daisy, which makes you the key to resolving this fast and efficiently."

"I won't let you do anything bad to Daisy!" Emer attempted to speak with panic in her tone.

"Either that or all the dark fairies need to be killed with some big spell. Decide, Emer."

Emer lowered her gaze and didn't speak. She didn't try to get away from Moira either. Shard hated how Moira was using them to pursue her strategy without giving them much of a choice. He was sure she might not have protected them if they chose to head back without her. Even so, she did seem to want to be in a hurry to help her friends out in the coming battle. "How can you be so sure that we will work as a bait?" he asked.

"Reasons,"Moira replied with a mysterious smile. "We're losing precious time, let's go!"

And thus Shard and Emer followed the necromancer with reluctance, wondering whether Moira's words were the truth or they hid ulterior motives behind ulterior motives.

* * *

 ** _Fragment of a Wish_**

* * *

"So this is the Hedge Maze…" Shard said, when Moira stopped in front of a huge door with floral patterns on it. He could feel the fairies above them buzzing with anger, attempting to get closer, but whatever Moira was doing to repel them, worked even against hundreds of them.

"Ready your wands," Moira said, slowly opening the door.

Shard slowly did as she asked. His hand trembled a little bit as he held the wand tight.

"Rattlebones broke mine…" Emer said.

Shard stared at her in surprise. She wasn't even acknowledging that it was he, the one who snapped it in front of her. The words gave him a sense of relief, soon followed by guilt. Though he had no money, he wanted to buy her a new wand in the future.

"I see. Don't worry about it. You'll just have to stay close to me and avoid doing anything stupid," Moira said. She then proceeded to open the doors and guide them inside.

The Hedge Maze. It once looked like it had been green and full of life. The dark Fairy dust had fallen on every plant and tree, turning everything it touched into dry and menacing thorns. The entrance to the maze awaited them; the hedges opened up in a deadly hug.

Moira eyed the many dark fairies fluttering in circles above the maze. She made a wary step forward. The buzzing of their wings intensified and the formation scattered. The dark fairies moving to protect the place from any who dared to approach it. Moira moved one step back and the fairies returned to circle above the maze as earlier. "Don't touch the thorns and no screaming, please. We'll have to make a run for it. They will attack."

"Wha-?" before Shard could even ask anything, Moira dashed forth and the two novices chased after her in a mad run. The barrier around them was assaulted by a barrage of crazy dark fairies who tried to punch and kick their way inside. Each hit made the barrier shake and deform like ripples on water.

Left. Right. Left. Right. Right. Left. Shard lost count of their twists and turns in the Maze. Branches reached out to them from the Hedges, dead grass attempted to tie around their feet to slow them, and roots always found a way to appear in the most convenient places to trip them.

"Take cover, I can't keep the ward up in these conditions," Moira said, pausing for breath at a crossroad. She didn't even finish her sentence that cracks started to appear on the barrier.

Shard tripped and fell on his back when the ward broke and dark fairies streamed inside. They took with them their dust and threw it at them, as soon as they got in range. Others just went straight to brawling, resorting to pulling hair and poking them with short sticks when they discovered that their kicks and tiny punches weren't very effective.

Emer whimpered as she tried to shoo them off, waving her hands frantically. Shard tried to get up, screamed and tripped back on the ground with his legs tied together with vines. In not even a few seconds, Shard could feel his strength diminishing, sapped away by the dust. Every movement of his body felt sluggish at best and his eyes seemed to be determined to close by themselves.

"Enough!" Moira's wand cracked like a whip as a blast of Death Magic disintegrated a bunch of fairies.

Emer gasped at the sight and Shard was sure she was going to protest for such a cold-hearted action, but her sudden stop of movement, gave a dark fairy the chance to poke her in the eye, transforming whatever she was going to say in a cry of pain.

After getting some space for movement, Moira started executing complex gestures and drawings with her wand. The symbol of Death Magic appeared in front of her and whispers came out of her mouth, creepy and powerful, they revealed fears and weaknesses. The whispers grew in intensity, taking a life of their own.

Whispers turned into screams, piercing, icy screams that took with them the power of Death. Before long, Shard found himself crawled up into a ball with his hands stuck over his ears. His own voice, strained to its limit in a prolonged shout, joining in with Moira's spell.

He couldn't move, trapped in a mere body of flesh. It shuddered and trembled in fear as the heart kept on increasing its beating speed, thumping faster and faster until it could finally burst, releasing his soul and making it possible for it to run away. Soon enough, he even felt eager for it to happen. It never did. Instead, the cries stopped abruptly and all he could hear was his sharp breath.

"Oh, Sorry for that. Thought you could take it," Moira said.

Shard lifted his gaze. Moira stood in the middle of the Maze's passage, watching the two novices in amusement, almost like they were funny animals she had randomly encountered during a pleasant stroll. Behind her, stood the figure of wrinkly woman with no visible legs, pale grey skin and a rat's nest of grey hair. She floated above ground for a few seconds and then slowly faded away.

"What did you-?" Shard started.

"Knocked the swarm unconscious and saved our lives, no reason to thank me." Moira tilted her head and looked at Emer as if to dare question her. "I would have killed them if it weren't for this overly sensitive Theurgist. In return, you won't talk to anyone, I repeat, anyone, about this." She gestured her hair as a whole and how it was full of small knots, certainly a gift from the dark fairies. With a wave of her wand, the hair untangled by itself and Moira breathed in relief.

"Thank you… Um, I won't tell anyone…" Emer muttered, slowly getting up. The sudden scream had shaken her up too, and she was visibly trembling.

"I told you. No reason to thank me. I'll do whatever it takes to get both of you out of here safe, I owe you that for my little manipulation. Let's just hope we are in time to save my rather heroic, teammates. Just… where did they end up to?"

Without giving Shard and Emer much time for rest, she chose a path, gestured for them to follow, and started to run. The Hedge Maze seemed to become greener as they ran towards its center. No dead leaves littering the paths and no thorns trying to get a hold of them every few steps. Shard could feel the power of Life Magic that just a little while back, covered all of Unicorn Way. The dread and despair were replaced by hope.

They could make it! Once they reunited with Flint and Sabrina they could hold off all the dark fairies with no problem at all! Such optimistic thoughts filled Shard's head.

"Meh, for once, I'm kind of pleased that there is Life Magic around here. At least those fools are still alive with Oriel."

"It's Lady Oriel, especially for you girl." The one who talked was a small fairy, who went out of her way to fly down from the top of a Hedge and cross her arms in front of Moira. Her outfit was green, like that of the fairies before corruption, and her eyes held no malice; if only a hint of annoyance.

"I'll take back everything I said about being pleased."

"Your friends are with lady Oriel. You better go and help them out. I'll show you the way." She gave a quick, worried glance to Shard and Emer, but without adding anything, she led them deeper into the Maze.

"Why does it seem like you aren't on good terms with that fairy?" Shard asked.

Moira smirked."Oh, that's because I'm not in good terms with fairies in general. I like to prank them, you see…"

She was cut off by the fairy who said,"Ehem, actually if that's what you call pranks I…"

"Oh, come on little Tinker Bell. Don't we have more important things to do than to discuss whether my pranks are pranks or not?"

The Fairy stopped abruptly and turned just to glare at Moira."Stop calling every fairy you talk to, Tinker Bell. What's that supposed to mean anyway?"

"I'll stop doing that when you girls start giving me your names," Moira smirked.

"Haha, not a chance Necromancer. Who knows what you'd do if you get to know them."

"Fair enough, Tinker Bell."

The fairy stiffened and kept on leading them until the narrow paths of the Hedge Maze opened up to reveal a glade. Trees grew on its sides, strong and healthy, carrying on their branches the small weight of tiny fairy houses made of wood and leaves. At the center of it, a stone platform marked the deepest part of the Maze.

"Welcome, young wizards," a voice spoke. It belonged to a woman with golden, shoulder-length hair, dressed in a simple, yet elegant, white tunic. Two feathery wings, of a purer white than her immaculate dress, sprouted from her back. They didn't seem to flap much, but regardless, the woman floated above the floor.

Shard shuddered as her deep blue eyes weighed down the new arrivals with intensity. Once the eye-contact broke, and the seraph smiled, Shard breathed a sigh of relief. The raw power radiating from her, left him no trace of doubt that she alone could overwhelm them easily if she thought of them as a menace.

"You are in the presence of Lady Oriel, Princess of the Seraphs, and protector of Unicorn Way," The fairy announced in way too pompous tone. Her eyes even darted towards Moira, challenging her to disrespect the lady.

Obviously, Moira seemed to take up the challenge.

"Yeah, what a protector we have here. Unicorn Way is in utter chaos," Moira said.

"How dare you disrespect our Lady!?"

Before the fairy could start arguing with Moira, Lady Oriel stopped her with a sign of her hand. "That is indeed the case, young wizard. When Unicorn Way's inhabitants turn against each other, the path to take is never an easy one. I still think of the Dark fairies as my beloved kin, but I can't ignore the cries of help of those who suffer by their hands."

"I think it's simple enough. The dark fairies need to be destroyed before they do anything unforgivable."

"No!" Emer shouted upon hearing those words. Everyone stared at her in surprise for the sudden outburst."There must be another way!"

"What's your name, young wizard?"

"Emer."

"I see. Why did you bring two novices with you, Necromancer?" lady Oriel eyed Moira strictly, looking like a teacher scolding her student.

"Oh, don't worry about them. I'm sure they can survive one way or another..."

"How could you?!" the voice that spoke didn't belong either to Moira nor to Oriel, but to an enraged Sabrina Greenstar who emerged from the Maze. "I told you to get Daisy back. I told you to protect the citizens. I even told you to avoid the Hedge Maze no matter what! Why are you here, Moira?!"

Moira shrugged. "It's too late to save Daisy and I'll take full responsibility if anything happens to these two."

Sabrina shook her head in disbelief. "Well, since you're here, help us with the wards." Sabrina bowed to Lady Oriel and headed to another passage.

Moira sighed, muttering something about how the whole plan was bound to fail, but followed Sabrina without questioning her directly. Flint, who was already waiting for both of them close to a hole in the hedge, disappeared back in the passage.

"Lady Oriel… sorry if asking is disrespectful, but what will you do?" Emer asked, the two novices found themselves alone with the Princess of the asking the question, she had kept sending random glances to the sky.

A green dome of green magic shone brightly over their heads. Dark fairies flew around it, but other than eyeing it warily, they didn't seem to be making a move.

"I won't abandon anyone. My decision is to save as many dark fairies as possible along as many inhabitants of Unicorn Way. I believe, we can do it."

Lady Oriel's words carried with them hope. Shard's chest swelled with courage, despite knowing fully well that he was beyond useless in such a situation. They could save everyone. It was possible. Shaking his head, he tried to think rationally.

He knew well how magic tended to affect people, and he didn't want to jump straight into something bigger than him just because a seraph said so. Giving in to a futile hope kindled by Life Magic could be just as lethal as succumbing to the fear awakened by Death.

No. That train of thought was exactly what was preventing him from accessing his magic. He needed to think about how it could be useful, not on what problems it could bring. His hand held his wand tight. If only he wasn't so useless.

"Do you have a plan to save everyone?" he asked, coming to terms that the best course of action was to trust the seraph.

"Of course. You novices stay close to me. The preparations for the purification spell are almost complete."

Fairies and sprites hurried along with small brushes and paint. Following Lady Oriel's orders, they drew lines, circles, and shapes on the stone platform in the middle of the maze. The lines departed from the center in and moved to the edges in spiral and circle patterns.

"Is this…" Shard started, suddenly aware of what was going on.

"An enormous Magic circle!" Emer completed for him. Lady Oriel's words seemed to have had a greater effect on her. "We will take Daisy back!" she smiled.

Lady Oriel smiled back warmly."Indeed, we will purify all of them at the same time."

Soon, Moira, Sabrina, and Flint returned. The necromancer, seemingly indifferent regarding everything that was going on, grinned. Sabrina, on the other hand, scowled, leaning on Flint to walk with fatigue evident on her face. Flint, in the middle of the two, had the perfect poker face.

"I reinforced the barrier as much as I could. Did I buy enough time?" Sabrina asked, doing her best to speak despite her ragged breath.

"You did a wonderful job, young Theurgist. It will give us just enough time…"

A loud thump interrupted her. Everyone looked up only to see Rattlebones, grinning triumphantly with the sword in his hand, standing on top of the barrier. "Lady Oriel, it is time for our fated encounter. Why don't you lift the ward and let the fairies play?"

Rattlebones brought the sword down on the barrier with brute force, making the powerful enchantments interact with the protective spell. Cracks departed from the spot that was pierced by the blade, and the green glow dimmed and disappeared. Slowly, the ward became as transparent as glass and ripples covered its surface. After an interminable instant, the glow appeared again. This time, smoky black.

The cracks grew wider and wider until the barrier partly gave in. A hole through which dark fairies entered, carrying their dust with them.

Rattlebones jumped inside, landing in front of Lady Oriel with a smirk. "And so it begins, my dear. Let us decide the next ruler of the fairies!"

* * *

 **The final battle is about to begin! Ooh, I wonder how will lady Oriel and the wizards fare against Rattlebones' army. Will they finally get to find Daisy? And if they find her, will she be on their side? That's something for next chapter though.**

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you so wish, do leave a review! I feel quite a bit drained after writing it, and hearing from you always cheers me up. Yes, even if you want to wish me a slow and painful death. It means that someone is actually reading this and it justifies my surprisingly insane devotion to this thing, lol.**

 **Edit: Thanks to gh0st for pointing out some errors! Went back and fixed the chapter up. :)**


	22. The Battle for Unicorn Way

**Hey everyone, I'm back with another chapter! This one will reveal some stuff, get a final confrontation, and wrap up Unicorn Way.**

 **To Iron-Ninja: I make it a point to try and reply directly to each and every comment. You took time to leave a comment and I appreciate it very, very much. Might seem just a comment, but the truth is that hearing from someone who is reading this story really makes my day.**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 22- The Battle for Unicorn Way**_

* * *

Shard lost contact with the ground as Lady Oriel's wing brushed him aside in a quick motion to avoid him getting in the way. He painfully landed on the hard stone pavement, unable to do anything but watch Rattlebones slash and hack his way to the Seraph. The fairies who got in his path, completely annihilated by the sword's enchantments.

The desperate cry of Lady Oriel, lamenting the death of her fairies, echoed in the Maze. Her sword glowed green with magical energy and she was soon locked in combat with the skeleton, trading blow for blow and sending sparks whenever the blades interlocked.

Dark fairies flew around like a crazy swarm, targeting their counterparts with the intent to kill. The battle raged up in the sky, and many fairies, both dark and pure, fell lifeless on the stone pavement, littering the ground with their corpses.

Taking the opportunity, Rattlebones sidestepped a particularly powerful blow and managed to make a small, seemingly harmless cut on the seraph's wing. Lady Oriel howled in pain as some of her feathers turned black and withered away. Her flight became unbalanced because of her wound and she was forced to step back.

Rattlebones pursued her waving his sword like a maniac, eager to cut the seraph to tiny little pieces. His blade was deflected a couple more times, but it was only a matter of time for one of his slashes to go through her defenses.

Lady Oriel seemed to understand it herself and mightily flapping her wing, she took off in the air. Her sword, of exquisite craftsmanship, glowed with even greater intensity and she lifted it up high, chanting a spell. A wave of green magic erupted from the blade, engulfing everything and sweeping away the countless enemies in the surroundings.

Shard felt the raw power emanating from the spell and shielded his eyes to avoid going blind. His skin tickled, followed by warmth spreading through his body, and a great pressure that made him feel lightheaded. Lady Oriel's magic spread in the air, targeting only what she deemed a threat to her and merely brushing past her allies. Rattlebones was thrown away by the blast, disappearing from sight in the depths of a hedge.

The remaining Dark fairies didn't give up though, and just like a school of piranhas, they aimed straight at Lady Oriel, who was holding her blackened wing in pain. The buzzing from their tiny bug-like wings covered every other noise, much like Lady Oriel's body was shrouded from sight by the tiny bodies swarming around her.

All of that had happened so fast that Shard had forgotten his own position. He got up and frantically looked around. He dodged a small fairy coming at him with a tiny blade. She was whispering something in a low tone which suspiciously sounded like his name. Other fairies noticed him and started muttering unrecognizable words as they grouped up to take him down.

Shard made a run for it. He wanted to get to Emer, Moira, Sabrina, and Flint, who were all trying to fend off the attackers in their own way. The sudden assault had made them scatter far from one another.

He did not even manage to get ten steps of distance from the attackers that he tripped. Too late did he notice that his movements had started feeling sluggish. The dust raining down on all of them from above. Fairies were on him in seconds. They whispered, screamed, chattered, all in the same voice. "Shard… You and Emer have abandoned me… Join me in my torment!"

"No!" He shouted, managing to roll sideways, freeing himself of the dark fairies and getting up again with difficulty.

He ran and ran. He didn't have a destination anymore. His swift steps at the command of a voice that was imploring him to find help, trying to ignore another voice, much more threatening, who ordered him to give in to the corruption. His mad dash continued, unable to face the truth that he, no matter how much he wanted to excuse himself, had indeed abandoned a friend in need.

Shard surpassed Sabrina, who was kneeling on the floor, her staff held high in a last attempt at resisting the swarm. A weak shield fizzled in and out of existence around her. Shard barely managed to recognize her.

He would have kept running if he hadn't bumped into Flint. The Pyromancer stopped him from going anywhere else with a firm grasp around his arm. A torrent of flames bursting to life from his wand. The fairies who were chasing Shard withdrew, and with them, a strong grasp around his mind that he didn't even notice was there.

"Don't run off and avoid listening to the Fairy Queen, novice," Flint said. The continuous stream of flames coming from his wand encircled them in a ring of fire. The flames never outright burned the fairies, but the heat and smoke propagating from them, scattered most of them away.

"Y-You… aren't attacking them directly…" Shard mumbled, holding his aching head with his hand. Daisy's telepathy was like having multiple stings thrust through his brain and if he didn't pay attention, she could easily take over his own thoughts.

"Of course not. We are still going with the original plan." Flint smiled with confidence.

Shard looked the Dark Fairies attacking Lady Oriel and saw light propagating from the centre of the swarm, like the sun trying to pierce a cloudy sky. The princess of the Seraphs was indeed fighting back, not everything was lost.

"There you are, Shard. Only Emer left to save," Shard jumped when he heard Moira's voice coming from the back. The Necromancer rolled her eyes and deposited Sabrina on the ground.

"Thank you for the lift, Moira," Sabrina said. Barely standing up with the help of her staff.

"No problem. I still think it would be for the best if we just obliterated them and be over with the whole thing… Now, Emer is it? There." A wave of Moira's wand was all it took for an invisible force to take a hold of Emer, who was trying her best to shoo the fairies away by exaggeratedly flailing her hands. The girl was lifted up from the ground with ease, releasing a surprised gasp. Like a magnet, Emer was attracted towards Moira and then released on the floor nearby, emitting a huff when the spell disappeared without warning, resulting in her losing balance upon landing.

"Alright, I hope Oriel is ready to do her thing," Moira said. Repelling a group of dark fairies that made it past Flint's Fire.

Soon after those words were pronounced, a burst of light departed from Lady Oriel and knocked most Fairies unconscious. The magic circle on the floor began to glow green. The luminosity grew brighter and brighter until Shard found it impossible to sustain, closing his eyes in retaliation.

As it had started, all of it ended. Lady Oriel, barely keeping herself afloat, smiled in satisfaction. On the ground, countless Fairies were knocked unconscious, all of them devoid of corruption. The globe around the Maze shattered completely, having achieved its purpose of containing the dark fairies inside as the purification took effect.

"Is it… over?" Shard said.

Moira facepalmed, not hiding her annoyance. "Shard, you don't ever say that…"

A loud boom reverberated in Shard's ears and he was thrown aside by a powerful blast of magic. Pain went through his chest as if a cold hand squeezed his heart in a fatal grip. The next thing Shard registered was that he was lying on his stomach, close to him a crater opened up by the spell. In an attempt to get up, he found his body utterly unresponsive.

"Why? Why? Why? My fairies, come back to your queen!" Daisy's voice screamed in anguish. The sprite slowly descended from the sky. The swarm of dark fairies encircling her was only a small part of the army Rattlebones had created, but despite that, they were still too numerous to be taken lightly. Every word the fairy queen muttered, her fairies repeated, each one in their own voice, resulting in a mess of sound that gave birth to words.

"Rattlebones… help…" she muttered with her many voices, "How can I get back those that betrayed me?!"

"There is only one way, my dear. You have to kill the other queen. The fake queen," Rattlebones' voice replied. The skeleton took his time, walking through the battlefield like he owned the place, kicking aside the tiny bodies of the fallen fairies.

"That, I'll do…" Daisy replied.

"How did you avoid the spell?" Lady Oriel asked, still standing and glaring Rattlebones down as if he was the most disgusting thing in the whole spiral.

"Did you really think it was that difficult to predict? You wouldn't hurt your beloved children and mass purification was the alternative. You thought you could get what you wanted without sacrificing anything in return. For such arrogance, you shall pay the price." Rattlebones chuckled, his bones rattling as if they wanted to join in with the laughter.

"Your time as the queen is over, Oriel," Daisy said. She lifted her hand as Fairy dust swirled in her palm, solidifying in a purple orb of energy. With a grin, she threw it.

Lady Oriel gasped in surprise and had just enough time to erect a weak ward in front of herself before the orb exploded, knocking the seraph to the ground.

"Is this the best you can do?" Daisy insisted, extending her hand and shooting another orb of black fairy dust.

This time, Lady Oriel didn't even have the time to create a barrier that the explosion hit her directly. Her sword flew out of her grasp.

Shard's gaze looked for anybody that could help them. Sabrina, Flint, and Emer seemed to be lying unconscious close to him. Daisy's explosion had taken them off guard and they didn't have time to shield themselves. Moira was nowhere in sight, probably the blast had sent her flying farther away from them. Purple dust kept on falling like deadly snow, each particle, draining their magic and life straight out of them. Shard himself found it hard to stay conscious, his eyelids heavy and his mind clouded.

Lady Oriel groaned in pain as another spell hit her directly. Her wings closed around her head in a last attempt at protecting herself. Feathers fell, and drops of blood trickled on the stone. The laughs of Daisy and Rattlebones covered the seraph's whimpers.

"Daisy… please… stop…"Shard muttered in fear. It happened so fast. Their fight was lost. Their strategy, seen through.

Nobody came to help them. Lady Oriel kept resisting under Daisy's attacks, getting weaker and weaker after every hit. Rattlebones walked towards her, sword in hand.

Shard's eyes started to close. If only he could reach Daisy. If only there was a way to make all of that nonsense stop. His mind went blank. Soon, he drifted off into unconsciousness.

 _He was walking among countless crystals. They shined around him in a wide range of colours. No one was in sight and his every step echoed as if he walked in an empty hall. Muffled screams and far away explosions reached his ears. Shard. His name was Shard. He told himself, going forward._

 _The Crystal grove seemed to go on forever as he continued his walk. At one point, he stopped. "Who am I?" he asked out loud to the empty grove. "What is my name?"_

 _No answer came._

" _What am I doing here?" he asked, turning to face one of the crystals. Much to his surprise, the image of a boy with messy black hair and cold, piercing blue eyes stared back at him. The image reflected itself on the countless faces of the bright red crystal, sharing a striking resemblance to Shard, and if it weren't for the blue eyes, they would have been exact replicas of one another. The image smiled. Not quite a reflection in a mirror, more like another person living inside the crystal._

" _You came here to borrow my power again. Hopefully, you will ask permission this time," the boy said._

 _He nodded. Fragments of what happened in the Hedge Maze came back to him. "Please, help me…"_

 _The boy in the crystal grinned and disappeared, reflexes of his image traveling from crystal to crystal. Shard ran after those images, deep in the grove. He ran until he came in sight of a throne, completely made of red, purple, and black crystals. On it, the boy sat triumphantly, a king in his castle._

" _What is it you want help with?" The boy asked, though there was a hint of derision in his tone._

" _I-I…" Shard stopped. What was it he wanted? Eliminating all the fairies? No that wasn't it. Remembering Daisy's words on how he and Emer had abandoned her, he wished for a way to reach out to her. Tell her that it wasn't like that. Save her! In the end, he replied, "I would like to purify the dark fairies…"_

" _I see… You are still deeply connected to your fake life. With time, you will understand and the price shall be paid. It will be a pleasure, having you back."_

 _Those words sent a shiver down his spine, but it was too late to withdraw his wish._

 _The scenery changed. He stood in the middle of a room, wand in hand. Another life. Another person. On a pedestal, a single arrow. He hovered his wand over it, sensing its magic. It was exactly as he had learnt. Fire elf's magic could link things through emotion. It was time for him to use that magic._

" _Come on, we don't have all day. You have to get used to this spell or you'll have to repeat the procedure," a voice said._

 _He shuddered. He didn't want to go through the procedure again. Closing his eyes and focusing, he could feel his mana, powerful and wild flowing through him. With a single gesture, he condensed it in two orbs of white energy, floating just above the tip of his wand._

 _Reciting the incantation he cast the spell: Link._

Shard's eyes popped open. His Spellbook, ready in front of him and glowing bright red. Words, written in a language he didn't know filled every page and glowed golden. No matter if he couldn't remember his name. No matter if he couldn't remember what was going on. His hand moved by itself and drew the symbol of Fire magic by its own accord.

"Link…" he uttered as the two orbs of pure white magical energy converged in the symbol, activating the spell. He didn't even know what the orbs were, nor how he had been able to create them, it came as easily as breathing.

Fire erupted around him. It was a warm flame, shrouding his being from everything harmful. The dark Fairies around him caught fire. They screamed and dropped to the ground as all their emotions were sapped from them by the magical fire, eating away at their dark intentions.

Yellow orbs traveled in circles from each and every fairy back to Shard, bringing with them scattered memories. Everything was connected to him and he connected every one of them. That was how he felt. Fragments of memories and emotions flowed through him in a constant stream. Mostly Happy memories, such as singing to trees and plants, fairy parties, kind people. Other memories appeared from time to time, dark and scary; the cages in Delia's tower, the bones whispering false promises, Rattlebones, and his insane, lonely ramblings.

Shard stood up. The fire, restoring his energy for every dark fairy that was caught in the spell. He walked forward, towards Rattlebones and Daisy, who had stopped their assault to look at him wide-eyed.

Dark fairy dust crackled out of existence whenever it came into contact with the flames. They couldn't touch him. For some reason, that thought made him laugh. Pointing his wand forward, a stream of fire was released from its tip. The dark fairies that got caught in it literally exploded into dust and their ashy remains scattered away.

 _Don't kill!_

He didn't want to kill them, but at the same time, his greatest desire was to do so, putting an end to that pitiful battle. A flick of his wand and flames obeyed him, pointing straight to Rattlebones and Daisy. Orbs flew out of them and their bodies were enveloped in the hellish flames. Scattered memories flowed freely in Shard's mind, overlapping with one another.

 _Rattlebones, lonely and miserable, trudged at the outskirts of Unicorn Way. He brushed his skeletal hand upon his sword and the black metal responded, almost as if it was singing to him. Malistaire's enchantments were first tier. It hadn't been long since his new Master, had summoned him back from the dead. It was ironic that he was sent in the same place he used to live in. His job was to weaken the Life magic in the area. It was even more surprising that he maintained a semblance of free will after being brought back from the other world. He slowly approached a group of fairies, unsure whether to eliminate them or greet them. He knew the names of most of them._

The memory faded, leaving its place to another one.

 _Daisy had just finished healing her master from a rather serious injury. Though she had no idea what love was, she could have sworn to have fallen for him at first sight. She melted at his every word and cared deeply for his every thought. She even went as far as admiring the way he brandished his sword. Such courage! It wasn't the first time she had been summoned, yet, it was the first time she felt that way. She blamed it on the huge amounts of magic in the area. Buzzing in excitement for her newfound self-awareness, she smiled at her master, thinking that Unicorns ought to be the most beautiful species in the Spiral. Finally, she had wishes of her own._

It almost seemed like the two memories were fighting among themselves, attempting to get even a little scrap of recognition. They went back and forth, flashes of instants and thoughts scattered in time.

 _Rattlebones stopped to hide in a bush as a squad of Pixies flew by, chanting their merry songs. He remembered listening to those songs during his whole life. Why did they suddenly sound so wrong? The happiness of those words didn't reach him and the Life magic contained in them hurt his ears. Rattlebones couldn't disobey an order from his master, he had to kill the fairies even if he remembered them fondly. In truth, he wanted to find another way to drain Unicorn Way of its magic. Under the cover of the bush, he began to think._

 _Daisy stamped her foot on the ground as she watched her master leave her. Her usefulness had come to an end once he was fully healed. She tried to run after him, ask him to let her stay by his side. It was wishful thinking on her part. He didn't want to have anything to do with her, freaked out by a spell with thoughts and feelings. Magic was just a tool, right? It couldn't feel anything._

 _After many failed attempts, a fairy was caught in Rattlebones's trap. He tried to talk to her, reason with her, and try to make her remember. Tell her all about the times she had taken care of his plants. Tell her of the many times they had talked, sharing stories and laughing as friends. His gentle words were met with fear and hate. In the fight that followed, he accidentally killed her. Malistaire's spell, bound him to keep his word. No tears could come out of his only eye. Hugging the fairy's corpse in sorrow, he set himself out to find another way. Fix the fairies from the curse of Life Magic. The curse that prevented him to interact with them. Slowly, he headed towards Delia's tower, an old wizard who specialized in prisms. With Malistaire's enchantments, his talent at beguiling, and her knowledge on prisms, he was bound to fix the fairies. Fix them. Fix them all to be just like him. Fix them so he didn't have to destroy them._

Shard found it difficult to retain his sense of self as the memories flashed in front of his eyes. The strong emotions they brought with them felt as real as it would have felt if he had experienced it all first hand. Fire flickered and danced in the air around him.

"Our job here is done! Retreat, now!" Rattlebones yelled. He had managed to put out the flames that had been eating away at his clothes using the Death magic in his blade. His skull was charred and blackened by smoke, his legs shaky. Another blast of flame was thrown his way and Rattlebones ducked to evade it. Daisy and her small dark fairy squad weren't faring any better than him. Their skin was covered in blisters and small orbs of fire hunted them down as they zigzagged in the air.

Shard laughed. Harder and harder, a laugh that wasn't his. He shot blasts of fire at random, not caring if they hit his target or not. Under his spells, the Hedge Maze burned.

"You wanted to reach the fairies, huh? Too bad, they are too far gone. What is left for you to do is to destroy everyone and everything. Cut your useless ties and come back to me," A voice said.

Shard didn't know whether it was him speaking. What he knew, was that whoever pronounced those words, was the one laughing.

Rattlebones took out a small tablet of stone from his pocket, hurriedly muttered a few words and threw it on the ground, shattering it to pieces. A black portal appeared where the tablet shattered and on the other side of it, there was a city shrouded in darkness. Rattlebones jumped inside, evading a fireball by mere inches. Daisy went after him soon after, followed by her dark fairies, and disappearing from sight just before the portal closed. The dark fairies that weren't fast enough to go through, where eaten by the magical fire.

"They escaped… Too bad, there are still lots of things to burn." Shard slowly turned around, facing the other wizards. Nobody seemed to be awake to defend from what was coming their way. Too bad. Shard lifted his wand in the air and started to focus.

"No!" he shouted. Shard didn't want that. It wasn't what he had bargained for.

"Oh, now you think you know what you bargained for, do you?"

Shard's wand remained lifted towards the other wizards. Inside his head, two different voices shouted at each other to seize control. "I… won't kill them…" he said.

"Why? You don't need them… You will leave everything to me in the end. Your life won't belong to you anymore," The boy said with Shard's voice.

"I-I… d-don't want that!" Shard shouted back.

"You will have to. As of now, you are nothing but a leech, desperately hanging onto the physical plane by forcefully draining your friend of her mana. Your own magic uses that very same mana taken from her. I shouldn't even tell you what will happen if you continue to use Fire Magic so irresponsibly."

Shard grinded his teeth, forcefully trying to lower his wand. He didn't understand half of what the boy on the crystal throne spoke about, but he didn't want to hurt anyone. He didn't want to give up on what he had in Wizard City. It was his life.

"Very well, seems like you need a bit more time to choose the right thing. I will leave you alone for now. Let's see how you control fire on your own," the boy laughed bending Shard's body in two and holding his stomach.

Flames. They ran wild around him when the voice faded from Shard's head. Fire crackled and ate away at the surroundings, turning against Shard. It tried to eat him.

"No…no…no…"Was all he could mutter as the wildfire erupted all around him out of control.

Shard heard someone chanting a spell. A chilling wind blew and extinguished the fire. Snow started to fall from the sky. And it was in a bed of snow that Shard fell, losing the battle to stay awake.

* * *

 _ **Fragment of a Wish**_

* * *

Merle Ambrose made his way to the centre of the Hedge Maze, bringing with him Professor Greyrose and Professor Wu. Saying that the place was in disarray was an understatement.

Plants had withered and died while others had been straight up incinerated, Lady Oriel lied in a pool of her own blood on the singed stone floor, motionless. It was a miracle that they had arrived when they did, giving just enough time for Lydia to knock Shard out and extinguish the fire. Ambrose could have sworn to have sensed a foul and powerful entity, leaving the child's body, but it all happened so suddenly that he didn't have the time to analyze it further.

The Fairies had started to slowly come back to their senses and after the initial shock of seeing her queen in such a state, they made their best efforts at healing her. The students involved in the battle didn't seem to have suffered major injuries, even though most of their energies had been drained.

He quickly waved his staff and four stretchers appeared. Another wave and the four students were safely lying to them as they floated midair. With great care, the stretchers flew through a portal created just for the occasion, leading to the Infirmary.

It had been hard to bring down Malistaire's wards around the place and it had been no easy task to dispatch the numerous undead that had taken residence in Unicorn Park, threatening the population and preventing the professors to pass through. It also seemed that Private Stillson, who was entrusted with the gate, had been beguiled long ago. The guard had refused to open up the gate for Nolan Stormgate, the myth student who, dressed as a dark fairy, had managed to make his way to him. It was thanks to a well aimed spell that Nolan had managed to pass through. Everything had been planned to slow the professor's intervention, no doubt.

When he sent the adepts to find out who was kidnapping the fairies, Ambrose didn't think they would have been involved so directly in Malistaire's plans. Had he foreseen such a turn of events, he would have sent back up. Even so, the plan weaved together by the young wizards and Lady Oriel saved many fairies. Hearing such feats accomplished by his students always made him proud.

"Thank you for your efforts, all of you," Ambrose said, addressing the only conscious student, Moira Nightdust, who had managed to untangle herself from a bush just seconds after they had arrived. "Could you tell me perhaps, more on what has happened here?"

Moira nodded and started her explanation. Rattlebones, a vile creature, had been steadily corrupting the fairies in order to use them as a weapon against Lady Oriel. The plan was clever. Most fairies were fragile creatures, and Wizards had trouble to use their magic on them without ending up killing them. The wizard's hesitation to go on the offensive had been used as a weapon against them.

The only thing that didn't seem to be clear was how Shard and Emer had managed to get involved in all of it. Moira said she was protecting them from the Fairy Queen, who was looking for them in all of Unicorn Way. Losing Daisy to corruption was dire news. Ambrose resolved himself to find some time to think about a way to get her back.

After he heard out the rest of Moira's explanation, he sent her to The Commons. The Necromancer needed some well-deserved rest.

Ambrose turned back to the burnt hedges and absent-mindedly stroked his beard. According to Moira, Shard had managed to use Fire Magic and scare Rattlebones away. Then, after losing control of the spell, he started shouting incoherent things and burning down everything. Clear signs of possession, no doubt about it.

The Headmaster examined the traces of magic left in the area. Link, a Fire spell taught to Initiate level Pyromancers, requiring the use of two pips to activate. The boy had been able to use it even without having been taught anything about converting mana into pips.

"This might either turn into a blessing or a tragedy," he muttered. The boy surely needed some supplementary Fire lessons to control the fire he was capable of summoning.

Lydia Greyrose, who until that very moment, had tried to help Moolinda, made her way back to the headmaster. "Dire news indeed, Merle. The Ward is broken."

Merle nodded in understanding. "That seems like it was Malistaire's objective all along."

"Is there any hope of renewing the spell?"

Merle looked at the magic circle drawn on the floor with a grave look on his face. He frowned and muttered a small incantation. The spell had no effect. "Alas, the Life Magic that fueled the ward was disrupted. We won't be able to set another until it is replenished."

Lydia Greyrose sighed. "We better strengthen our security in the other streets before it's too late."

Merle nodded. Dark days loomed on the horizon.

* * *

 **A broken ward, a mysterious boy, and a look at Rattlebones' and Daisy's backstories!**

 **Yep somehow managed to squeeze it all in this chapter. A usual I hope you enjoyed it. If you so wish, do leave a review and tell me whether you think I'm doing something right or terribly wrong. I am not sure of being good at writing fights and wrapping up stuff in general so any input is appreciated. I also appreciate all of those who are following this story and favorited.**

 **Also, don't forget to check my profile for info! You'll get to know how far I am into writing a chapter and might get teasers on what to expect.**

 **Always on my profile, there is also a poll on whether you like FoaW's pacing, and if you want, you can participate on it.**

 **I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter and I wish you an awesome day! :)**


	23. The Invincible General of Cyclops Lane

**And here I am, back with yet another chapter! This is the first chapter from Rose's point of view in FoaW. It isn't necessary to read 'Seeking Magic,' Rose's own origin story, to understand what is going on. During this chapter there will be a brief summary. If you want to read her story though, you are welcome to do so :P**

 **As of now, the majority of the poll (The one person who voted, lol) declares I should try to pick up the pace, and so I will try!**

 **To Iron-ninja: I'm glad that the fight scene was good... I Always have second thoughts whenver i write them and it will happen more often from now on. Yep, lots of information last chapter. Trying to make them longer, more direct and with a bunch of things happening in them.**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 23 – The Invincible General of Cyclops Lane**_

* * *

"And that's why you have to join Kane in his extra Fire lessons?" Rose said, blinking her eyes in disbelief.

"That's mostly it. I don't even remember how my spell got out of control, to tell the truth. Can't even remember casting one. . ." Shard replied.

It was the day after the assault at Unicorn Way and the attack led by the fearsome Rattlebones, had soon become the main topic of conversation among all of Wizard City's inhabitants. The street had been evacuated due to the instability of magic in the area and the gate was shut closed, preventing students from accessing the arena. Lady Oriel and the fairies were transferred to a secret location to be properly healed and Ambrose had asked the more experienced students to patrol the other streets along with the guards.

"I can't even leave you alone for ten minutes and this happens. . ." Rose commented.

"Tell me about it," Emer said.

Rose shrugged and lifted her bag up, glancing at the dormitory door. "I guess the study group is canceled today. Not that Unicorn Park would have been available anyway."

Shard lowered his gaze to the ground, seemingly interested in the stone pavement. Slowly, he shifted his focus to Rose's bag, eyeing it with intensity. An imperceptible twitch of his mouth confirmed that the boy, did indeed want to say something, and if Rose hadn't been observing him closely, she would have never noticed such a small action.

"Do you want to go ahead and read Malistaire's biography?" Rose asked. The book was safely tucked in her bag among her textbooks and she had already spent some time reading through its pages on her own.

Shard looked at her in surprise for seeing through him and nodded. "If it isn't a bother. . ."

Rose merely shrugged and gave him the book. It was the least she could do to help him out and she had all the reasons to do so. "Haven't found anything worthwhile about a black cat, but it's still an interesting read."

"Oh. . . I do think it might be for the best to get to know more about Malistaire himself. Not knowing might actually be worse."

Rose, Emer, and Kane stared at him in surprise. It was the first time Shard showed such a great interest in Malistaire himself. Not to talk about how he actually told them he wanted to know more about him. It was peculiar; Shard had always been extremely careful and a full-fledged worrywart. He seldom went straight to the point of things and would end up approaching matters very slowly and in indirect ways.

Rose bit her lip. Shard seemed to have been affected greatly by his encounter with Rattlebones. She couldn't be completely sure about it, but it almost seemed like her friend, acted like a completely different person from time to time, and it may have been a trick of the light, but she could have sworn that sometimes, for but a few instants, his pale, green eyes, turned to blue. Rose didn't dwell on it too much, her musings cast aside as she told herself that she didn't know Shard so well that she could predict his actions.

A few minutes later, they went their own ways, and Rose walked straight to her dormitory room. Emer had tried to tag along, but she had managed to conjure a random excuse to be left alone. She closed the door behind herself and looked at the dusty tome left open on her desk. Soon, all her worries about her friends, the city, and anything else that wasn't herself disappeared. She needed to focus. It was time to try out the spell.

"Are you sure about this, Master?" a familiar and annoying voice pierced her mind in a mocking tone.

"I am," she replied, accepting the challenge.

"I can't wait to witness your failure. Ha!"

"Not going to happen."

More than a month had passed since the fateful day in the Dreadful's garden. The day when she had accidentally bound her annoying familiar just because of her childish desire of trying out a random spell. It had been more than a month that she had lived with that rock lurking at the corners of her mind, impossible to get rid of, and always ready to comment on everything she did.

Sometimes she wondered if all of it had really happened. Before attempting to cast that spell, she was just a normal Marleybonian girl with the dream of studying at Ravenwood, but once that rock appeared in her life, everything had changed.

Her attempts at getting rid of her accidental familiar had eventually led her to Wizard City. It didn't just happen though, she had to go through plenty of misadventures before she ended up as a student. During such times, she had often given up, got up again, and fought against the odds. One such time was when she had been kidnapped by Ratgard, the rat charlatan who was after the Dreadful's magical artifacts, and another was when she thought she had failed the entrance exam. Thinking back at how hopeless she had felt in those circumstances, she shuddered.

Often, Rose thought of home, wondering how everyone was doing. Her parents, her grandfather, her dear friend Penny, she hadn't been able to gather enough courage to even write a letter to them until recently. She ran away from home after all, albeit with the help of her grandfather.

A sigh escaped her and she sat down, placing her familiar, Rocky, in the middle of a magic circle she had painstakingly prepared the day before. Taking out her wand, she started performing the complex gestures and chant that would rid her of that dead weight. Magical energy flowed free from the tip the wand and she ended the chant speaking Rocky's true name, which in fact, was exactly Rocky, since she had given it to him as its master.

Everything seemed to be going according to her meticulous plan when the wand suddenly emitted what sounded like a loud raspberry. An explosion of slimy, green drool erupted from the tip, spreading to every corner of her room and covering furniture, floor, walls and Rose herself.

"hahahahaha!" Rocky couldn't contain its laughter as Rose tried to clean her face from the slimy substance.

"Haha, so funny," she replied, looking around the room with a scowl. There was no way she could have cleaned all of that mess by herself. The spell was an utter disaster.

Paying attention not to slip, Rose walked across the drool-covered floor to the door and headed out and down the corridor, hoping that nobody happened to see her in such a state. Surpassing a bunch of doors leading to other rooms, she headed for a particular one with a glaring 13 on it. Supposedly there should have been another three before the 13, but the girl who lived in the room had managed to make it mysteriously disappear. Rose knocked three times, and the person she was looking for, opened the door.

"Hello. You're Rosemary, right?" Moira Nightdust, Adept Necromancer asked, smiling at the novice.

"Yeah, I need some help with my room. . ." Rose began.

"Bloodbat drool, huh? That's nasty stuff to clean. Sure, I'll help."

"Thank you very much!"

The very first day after Rose's admission at Ravenwood, Moira had told her and a few other novices that if they ever needed help with anything regarding the dormitory, she was willing to help out. As Rose led Moira along, she hoped that the Necromancer wouldn't raise any questions on how her room ended up in such a sorry state.

They walked back through the corridor and Rose took notice of how her footprints, had been engraved in the corridor's floor, green, slimy and stinky. Before she could say anything about it, Moira muttered a few words and pointed her wand to both, Rose and the trail of footprints on the floor. In an instant, everything vanished without a trace.

"You made them disappear just like that?"

Just like that," Moira nodded.

Once they were back in Rose's room, Moira uttered the same spell and any sign of the failed spell disappeared in an instant. Rose thanked Moira for her help and was going to get back to work on her spell, when Moira asked, "Since I helped you, why don't you help me with something? Nothing time consuming, just a delivery."

Rose nodded. The thought of refusing not even crossed her mind. There was something in Moira's smile that was rather unsettling. "Alright, what is it?"

Moira produced a small letter from her bag. The seal seemed to represent some sort of spiral-like vortex with what appeared to be a black orb at the center, radiating light. Rose had never seen anything like that and she had surely memorized quite a lot of symbols for her Myth assignments.

"And that is. . .?" Rose asked, curiosity taking the best of her.

"Oh, I'm just asking a friend to help out with the destruction of the Spiral, nothing much."

Rose stared at Moira in surprise, unsure whether to take her seriously or not. Logically speaking, destroying the Spiral was impossible, but also stupid, as everything was part of it. The look on Moira's face was of utter seriousness and Rose soon found herself doubting her own thoughts. Moira wouldn't tell something like that so openly, right? She was joking, right?!

"What a priceless face! Hahaha," Moira laughed, tapping Rose's head as if she was some kind of cute pet. "Please, keep my secret, otherwise you'll leave me no choice but to torture you with a spoon."

At that, Rose understood and laughed herself. Moira was just joking. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," she smirked.

"Good girl, take this to Duncan Grimwater. He should be helping Malorn near the Death School, you know, the chasm. Tell him it's from me and he will understand." Having said that, Moira left Rose alone in the corridor with the letter in hand and the foreboding feeling of having just made a pact with a demon.

* * *

 _ **Fragment of a Wish**_

* * *

A boy that Rose assumed was Duncan Grimwater, sporting black and white robes with a hoodie resting atop his head, was indeed talking to Malorn near the chasm. They were arguing animatedly about something and their voices could easily be heard from a distance away.

"She had the courage to suggest me trying to take some Life lessons! Can you believe that?!" Duncan said.

"In her defense. You wouldn't cast a sacrifice even if her life depended on it," Malorn argued.

"You know I don't like casting it. . . She can't force me to do it."

Malorn patted Duncan's back."I know that, but sometimes it's necessary."

Before Duncan could reply, Rose stepped in and tried to cough to get their attention. It seemed to work as Malorn smiled at her while Duncan sent a suspicious glare. Cutting it short, she just gave Duncan the letter, telling him it was from Moira and resigned to walk away quickly.

Malorn's voice reached her before she could put some distance between the Necromancers, "Did she do something bad to you?"

Rose turned around and tilted her head in confusion. Then acknowledging that Malorn was talking about Moira, she replied, "No, she helped me out, actually."

Malorn nodded, giving Duncan a significant glance and then focused back on her. "Alright."

Before Rose could ask any of the questions she had in mind, Malorn and Duncan walked away, eyeing the letter as if it was a bomb on the point of exploding.

"I'll read it alone, Malorn. She sent it to me," Duncan said.

"Alright mate. If anything happens, scream."

Both of the Necromancers nodded and went separate ways.

"One can't help but wonder just what was in that letter. I still think you should have opened it."

"And betray Moira's trust?"

"Well, technically she never asked you not to open it. . ." Rocky argued, but Rose decided to stop listening to it and marched back towards the dormitory. Once she got in front of Bartleby though, she changed her mind and opted to go for a stroll in the shopping district instead.

There was just too much going on. From Malistaire's unknown motivations to Ambrose's secret plotting. From the other student's small problems to her own small problems. Regardless, she couldn't avoid making conjectures about it all whenever she had free time. There wasn't a lot when it came to crime fiction in Wizard City's library and her passion had to be cultivated somehow.

She knew very well that her help might have been superfluous. There were prophecies and obscure motivations pulling the strings of whatever storm was brewing on the horizon, but she didn't have the heart not to help out her friends.

Shard and Emer were involved in all of it, she was sure of it. The confirmation of her suspicions arrived when Shard had decided to reveal himself as the extra student. He did so only when Emer was being threatened, and it wasn't hard to understand that both of them were the two extras. Of course, she knew that the two extras were recommended by Ambrose himself after he had told her in his office. Truth to be told, she still felt a bit of shame whenever she recalled how easily Alex Stormheart had managed to convince her to barge into Ambrose's office and look for answers on the supposedly inexistent students.

When she discovered the truth, she had felt a bit bitter for some time, angry that Ambrose would resort to such methods, but thinking about it later on, she couldn't fault the headmaster for his methods.

Ambrose had told her that the extras might have been the key to avoid some kind of disaster in the future. Stumbling upon that knowledge, Rose decided to get over her bitterness and help out in any way she could. That was a meager consolation after all her failures at getting rid of Rocky and proving her self-worth in Professor Drake's classes.

"Did you feel anything different after the last spell?" Rose asked hopefully as she walked down the shopping district.

"Oh, wait, now that you mention it. There is. . ." Rocky stopped mid sentence almost as if it was trying to get a grasp of something he couldn't quite pinpoint.

"There is?" Rose said, stopping in her tracks as a faint glimmer of hope made her consider her spell having a small effect.

"I've got a sudden urge to conquer the Spiral!" Rocky completed merrily.

"No way I'm letting you do that. . ."

"Oh, so you do believe I might be able to pull it off, huh?"

"I don't, but I'm not risking it."

Rose found herself in Olde Town. She wasn't exactly sure how she got so far. Her thoughts had distracted her long enough to walk all the way there.

For some odd reason, something Kane said days before, came back to haunt her. Looking towards the tunnel to Cyclops lane, she bit her lip. Failing the spell that was supposed to unbind Rocky was too much of a disappointment, and she didn't plan on doing any more experiments for the rest of the day. She was better off attempting to help Shard out with his own research on Malistaire and the black cat.

Truthfully, she wasn't seeing a connection between them, but Shard was pretty sure of the contrary. Rose sighed and asked Rocky, "To get to the Dark Cave, the fastest way is to go through Cyclops Lane, right?"

"The Dark Cave? So we're going there now?! What happened to Malistaire's house being dangerous and off-limits?" Rocky said, not hiding a hint of excitement.

Rose shrugged off Rocky's remark and made her way to Cyclops Lane. Her mind conjured up a simple plan; she had to march through Cyclops Lane as fast as possible, ignoring any distractions to avoid losing precious time. Once inside the Dark Cave, she would have made a run to Malistaire's house. The address wasn't too hard to find; she remembered a bunch of novices talking to each other about its location for a courage trial of sorts. Go to the house, observe and run back. That was the plan.

What a simple and naïve plan it was.

Cyclops Lane reminded Rose of her Myth studies. Large statues of famous Cyclopes stood at the street corners and buildings of dazzling white stone bordered it, supported by white marble columns and adorned with yellow roofs, which in the afternoon sun, shimmered golden.

Proceeding down the way, her gaze was attracted to the huge Cyclopes who inhabited the way. They were twice as tall as any human, sporting armor and carrying large hammers on their belts as naturally as Rose carried her bag with her.

Rose quickly made it to the sidewalk to avoid getting trampled over. The Cyclopes were a warrior sort, and most of the disputes among them were decided by fighting. She wasn't sure how such a huge Cyclops community even ended up living in Wizard City. The stories and facts she had read in Marleybone were mostly about Ravenwood itself, not the streets. It didn't help that she had fallen behind with her homework lately, busy as she was at getting rid of the obnoxious rock. She did kind of remember that one of the assignments involved studying Cyclops culture, too bad that it was still undone.

The Dark Cave's entrance wasn't that far from the main entrance of Cyclops Lane. She made it there without getting unwanted attention and her determination at ignoring her familiar's continuous nagging made it easier to avoid trouble.

Once Rose got in front of the entrance, she stopped. "It's. . . Dark." In front of her, the cave's mouth opened to unknown depths as the street, which passed right through, disappeared in the darkness.

"Of course it is. The Dark Cave, duh?" Rocky mocked her, laughing wholeheartedly.

"I should have brought a candle. . . Don't just laugh, if you have an idea tell me!" Rose replied.

"Tell you? There is nothing to tell, and even if there was, I wouldn't tell. You tried to get rid of me earlier, remember?"

"It's because you are like this that I want to get rid of you!" Rose rebuked.

She took out the rock in anger and threw it hard forward, trying to put as much distance as possible between her familiar. What she didn't account for, was that in her blind throw, Rocky ended up thumping onto a wooden door. Rose gasped in surprise as a Cyclops, dressed in full plate armor and wearing an annoyed scowl, came out of the house, expecting visitors.

"I. . . um. . . I'm. . ." Rose stood there, trying to say sorry and avoid getting crushed by an angry Cyclops. He was just too huge for not being wary of something like that happening.

The Cyclops scratched his bald head and kneeled down to pick up Rocky. "Young Miss, is this rock yours?" he said.

Rose froze, unsure of how to respond. She couldn't tell if she was more taken aback by the fact that the Cyclops just assumed she owned a rock or the fact that it was smiling and prompting her to take it back.

"Meh, you were lucky with this one, Master. Seems like a good-natured Cyclops," Rocky commented, not hiding a hint of disappointment.

"That I am! Mother always wanted me to be a gentle-Cyclops," The Cyclops said, puffing his chest in pride.

Rocky gasped and Rose's mouth popped wide open. _Has he just replied to something Rocky said? He can hear it?! Really?!_ Rose's thoughts went crazy. _Was it because of the spell? Did it work to some extent?_ She was sure that prior to it, nobody ever managed to hear Rocky, not even when holding it.

Before she could even speak, Rocky said, "That you are my dear. . . friend! And you just won the best prize you could have ever hoped for!"

"I did?!" The Cyclops looked at Rocky with its single eye in childlike wonder.

"You sure did, my friend! I'll let you know I'm a very, very magical rock!"

"You can speak! Of course."

"Oh, but that is just the tip of the iceberg, my lucky friend. I am a long lost magical artifact with the power of making those who keep me with them invincible!"

Rose's jaw, already wide agape, fell even further at Rocky's blatant lie.

"You speak the truth?!" The Cyclops was now holding Rocky as some sort of valuable diamond and Rose knew, that whatever Rocky said from there onwards, was going to be believed. "It is lying! It's just a random Rock that is able to speak… And unfortunately I'm responsible for whatever it does, so please are you willing to give it back?"

The Cyclops shifted its eye to her and Rocky back and forth. It was almost as if Rose could see the gears turning in his head.

"Don't trust her! She is an extremely powerful enchantress. Of course, she wants to keep me!" Rocky said gently shaking in the Cyclops cupped hands."She did bad things to me, like throwing me in lakes and chasms! She doesn't deserve the ultimate power!" Rocky exclaimed dramatically.

"The ultimate power?!" The Cyclops tightened its hold on Rocky as if a random bird was going to dive from the sky and snatch it away from his grasp.

"Sure! You might be able to climb the ranks here in no time. You can become the new ruler, my friend," Rocky said in a whispering, way to blatantly evil tone.

"Me, Akilles, the new ruler? Invincible and blessed with ultimate power?!" The now dubbed Akilles shouted as if he had just won the lottery.

"No, wait. Don't listen. . ." Rose didn't make it in time and Akilles wouldn't hear her out. Armed with Rocky in one hand and his hammer in the other, he ran off at great speed. Shouting something about defeating a guy named Eyemus Maximus.

Her hands, barely restrained from their trembling and her voice breaking free in an angry howl as Rose shouted to the target of her distress, "Rocky!"

* * *

 _ **Fragment of a Wish**_

* * *

Pebbles were mercilessly kicked out of her way as she walked down Cyclops Lane. A few of the inhabitants eyed her with a critical eye, but Rose couldn't care any less. Her plans had been utterly trampled over by that evil familiar. Wondering for the hundredth time what did she do to deserve such a divine punishment, she made her way to a park that divided the street in two.

The stone paved road and the simple, yet majestic buildings opened up to a grassy area filled with brightly colored tents and bushy olive trees. A large lake occupied the latter half of the park and Rose saw fish jumping in and out of the water out of the corner of her eye.

"Where to start?" she asked herself. Apparently, having an annoying familiar who made a live commentary on her every action did wonder's to nurture the habit of talking to oneself. Rose even felt at a loss when that annoying, smug tone didn't reply to her question.

"It is driving me mad after all. . ." she said, chewing on her lip in nervousness and fixing her eyes on her shoes. "Oh, but I'll find it! I-" her monologue was cut off once she lifted her gaze up, looking at what she recognized as a Cyclops child, holding a stuffed toy in one hand and what suspiciously looked like an extra large cotton candy in the other. He looked at her with concern and kept sending nervous glances to another Cyclops, probably his mother, sitting on a bench nearby.

"What are you looking at?!" Rose thundered, marching away and leaving the young Cyclops hiding in fear behind his snack.

Only later, did she regret it. Finding Akilles proved to be harder than she had thought at first. Cyclops looked roughly the same to her and though there had been the odd one out sporting some unique characteristic, may it be a monocle, a particularly fancy set of armor or even some tattoos, she just couldn't discern one from another. They were all tall and muscular, had the same eye color and round face structure, and atop their heads, they were as bald as Professor Drake.

Rose kept a steady pace and in a matter of minutes, she was heading towards the General's tower. Not that the Cyclops in Cyclops lane ever had a general with effective power. Every one of those lumps of muscles responded to The City Council. The general just occupied one of the seats along with Ambrose and the representatives of the most influential families in Wizard City. In simple terms, something akin to nobility.

Rose was so wrapped up in her thoughts, that, at first, she didn't even notice the Cyclops leaning against the wall. His helmet, lying useless on his lap, deformed by what appeared to have been a powerful blow, and his eye was blackened and unfocused. It looked like the Cyclops had just woken up after being knocked unconscious, and lifting his unfocused gaze, he noticed Rose.

"A-are you okay?!" Rose stammered, approaching the Cyclops and almost tripping on his hammer, left abandoned on the sidewalk.

"I am fine, young Wizard, but I might not be able to assure you that Cyclops Lane is."

"What happened. . . sir?" she added it as a second thought. Surely, showing her respect for someone that could snap her in two like a twig couldn't hurt. The Cyclops raised his single eyebrow, though it was hard to tell whether it was in surprise, or in disapproval.

Resting his head back on the wall, he touched the bruise with his hand and winced. Rose wanted to help him out but wasn't sure how he would take her action and she definitely didn't know any healing spells, so she just fumbled with her wand.

"He. . . he came like a fury, bearing with him the most powerful artifact I have ever seen! A Magical Rock with the power to make whoever holds it invincible. He… he challenged me to a duel and won, proclaiming himself the new general of Cyclops Lane!"

Rose was unsure whether to facepalm, leaving the red mark of her five fingers on her face, or even better feint dead away. She couldn't believe that Rocky had managed to do something like that. It certainly wasn't all that magical and the only thing of note it had done that day was convincing a Cyclops to be invincible. And becoming general. . . she thought with a snarl.

"You have to do something child. Only a Wizard can stop this madness and avoid the terrible future that awaits our kind!"

"Uh. . . What does he want to do?" Rose asked warily.

"He wants to unleash flying pigs upon the Street and open up the road to revolution!" The Cyclops exclaimed dramatically. An awkward silence fell between them as Rose continued to stare at him in disbelief.

"Just. . . how are flying pigs and revolution supposed to make sense in the same sentence?"

Without warning, the Cyclops took hold of her shoulders and shook them violently."It's the ancient pact! The ancient pact!"

Rose, attempting to stabilize herself, just asked back, "Wh-what ancient pact?"

The Cyclops stopped shaking her and explained, "When the Cyclops first came to this world, they wanted to conquer it. A wizard stopped them before they could and there, on the battlefield, made them swear an oath. Cyclops won't ever fight against the city and shall serve it, that is until pigs fly."

"But that's. . . wait, but pigs do fly!" Rose gasped in terror.

"They do, but at the time no Cyclops ever encountered such a thing as a flying pig. The existence of such a species was kept hidden from most of the Cyclops population and that kept the peace. We thrived in Cyclops lane and decided to put down hammer and shield in favor of speech and commerce. Please, keep the peace and make it so we don't go back to our brutal past!"

Eyus Maximus ended his speech by kneeling in front of Rose. Blood slowly trickling down his armor and gathering in a puddle at his feet. The moment felt so solemn that Rose almost felt bad breaking it. Not that she didn't believe him. If Akilles was a sample of the Cyclops average common sense, then it wouldn't have been all that hard to convince them that pigs couldn't fly. They would probably not even recognize a flying pig even if it flew right in front of their eye.

"Um, I'll just talk to him. . . I'm sure it is possible for him to govern without freeing flying pigs around the place," she said, trying to both reassure the Cyclops and come to terms with the oddness of the situation.

Yes, she could have just made a run for Ambrose and ask him to send someone to help, but that implied that whoever came to help, would have found out everything about Rocky. Rose didn't want random people finding out about her familiar. The only reason that made her reveal it to Shard and Kane, was because they had earned her trust and they didn't even believe it.

Whatever train of thought she was following, was abruptly interrupted by Eyus who, despite Akilles' best efforts to knock him out for good, managed to stand up and approach the gate. The gate to the general's tower wasn't anything extraordinary from Rose's point of view. She associated generals with far more than huge wooden doors guarded by two minotaurs.

What happened next was too fast for Rose to even follow. Eyus Maximus shouted, "This young powerful Wizard has come to challenge the general for the right to rule over Cyclops Lane!"

The Minotaurs mooed in such a way that almost resembled laughing. The gate sprung open, and before Rose could even protest, she was shoved inside by Eyus and the doors closed behind her with a loud thump.

"Wa-… I don't want to rule over anything you fool!" Rose hammered the door with her fist, attempting to get out. The only response was that of two amused Minotaurs mooing their heads off.

"Welcome enchantress, to the new center of the world," Akilles's low, threatening voice echoed behind her.

Rose jumped and squeaked, turning around to face the Cyclops. Akilles sat on a throne of white marble, caressing his hammer with a triumphant grin on his round face. An expensive looking golden helmet sat atop his head, hiding his baldness. He flexed his muscles nonchalantly and stood up, resting the large weapon on his shoulder.

"Oh, hi former-master, my new friend is awesome!" Rocky's telepathy reached her with all its cheerfulness.

"Stop this madness, I know of your plan to. . ." She gulped, not believing herself that she was going to say it. "Unleash pigs on the street!"

"You can't stop me now, enchantress. Your magic is powerless as long as I have this magical rock!"

"Yeah, believe it. . ." she said. There was no point saying anything. Rocky could just as well dispatch everything she said as lies and incite the Cyclops to squash her there and then. Something she wasn't looking forward to.

"Rocky, just tell him the truth. You can't actually be serious about conquering the spiral, right?" she tried to send her message forth telepathically, unsure of whether it worked or not.

"But, it's the best fun I had in quite some time! You are always trying to unbind me or just stay put in a library. Your life is boring!" Rocky complained.

"Yeah, I'll manage to get rid of you one day or another, and you won't be able to brainwash people into doing your bidding," she shouted.

"Very well. Akilles, deal with her. . . not too gently please," Rocky said. Rose could have sworn that her familiar would have smiled evilly if only it possessed a mouth.

Akilles made an awkward attempt at a military salute and stepped forth brandishing the hammer in one hand and Rocky in the other. Does he actually understand that a general shouldn't take orders from a suspicious magical rock? She thought before her thoughts had switched to, Good Bartleby! That Hammer is huge!

She ducked out of the way just in time and made a run for one of the enormous marble columns that decorated the throne room while she tried hard to come up with a spell that could save her. After a few seconds of panic, she came to the conclusion that Professor Drake hadn't thought her anything useful for direct fighting.

Rose suspected that her professor hoped exactly for similar situations to arise. That way he could get rid of of students without going through all the paperwork necessary for expulsion. Arriving at that conclusion, Rose did the most logical thing she could and screamed like the little girl she was while hiding behind the pillar for dear life.

She gasped in horror as the hammer broke right through it without much difficulty and she barely managed to get away before the debris collapsed on her. Taking her wand out on reflex, she pointed it to Akilles and shouted in her most threatening tone, which in truth, sounded rather terrified.

"Make another step and you'll regret it!" The empty threat lingered in the hall for a few seconds then, it left its place to silence.

Rocky laughed. "Yeah, what are you going to do to us? Hmm?"

Akilles, after a few seconds of hesitation, resumed the attack, letting out a long and piercing howl that made Rose freeze in fear. For a few crazy seconds, she found herself agreeing with Eyeus Maximus and his terror of Akille's fury. Then when her imagination got the best of her and her imaginary Eyus Maximus gave her a thumbs up and cheered for her to use her hidden potential, she understood that she was utterly screwed. Eyus had closed her up with a hammer-wielding maniac!

Brought back to reality by Akille's war cry, she stared at him in horror as he closed the gap in mere instants. Without losing time she pronounced the true name of the Bloodbat, the only summon that had been studied in class. As she did so, she quickly drew the Myth symbol in the air in front of her and pointed her wand against the Cyclops, which, judging by speed and trajectory, seemed to have shoved any thought of caution out of the window.

Will it work? That was what she thought when she activated the spell. Insecurities upon insecurities bunched up together. Something went wrong. She felt it even before knowing it. The symbol turned to dust and disappeared and her wand emitted the sound of a raspberry. She knew what was coming next.

Rose closed her eyes as a torrent of green, slimy drool erupted from the tip of her wand. It looked and smelled like a mix between Bloodbat saliva and an Humungofrog's half-digested meal. The reason Rose even knew that, was because professor Drake had had her clean it all up that one time she had messed up in class. Gross didn't even cut it.

Much to Rose's surprise, Akilles slipped, and his mad charge ended up with him missing her by a few centimeters and crashing into the wall behind her. Rocky flew out of his hand and landed with a thud on the floor. Rose made a quick run for it, and managed to grab it, much to its dismay, before Akilles recovered.

"You just had to blind him with that gross thing of yours, did you?" Rocky complained.

Rose ignored it and turned to face the Cyclops. Akilles, trying to stand up on his legs by leaning to his hammer, slipped once again, crashing face first on the floor.

"It is over Akilles. Rocky. . . um, I mean the magical artifact is now mine! You can't do anything against me anymore!" she said, trying to get an edge by using Rocky's own lie.

"Well, played, master. Well played," Rocky muttered, halfheartedly.

Rose rolled her eyes, and with wary steps, she managed to get closer to Akilles. The Cyclops was now bowing to her and muttering a bunch of inaudible excuses, somehow going as far as attempting to swear his allegiance to her in hopes of not being punished.

"Stop acting like that, it's creepy," Rose said, making a step backward just to stay safe.

"But. . . you are the General now! You, who bear the invincible power of the magical rock have won the fight to rule the street!" Akilles exclaimed, barely lifting his face from the floor, covered in green, gross, mythical saliva.

"I'm what?" Rose barely had the time to turn. The doors slammed open and Eyus Maximus, followed by the two guardian minotaurs, entered the room, cheering the name of their new, powerful general. A large crowd of Cyclops, minotaurs and even a few trolls entered the room soon after them, the cheers crashing on the poor, bewildered novice conjurer who dripped in green drool.

"When I asked you to research Cyclops culture. . ." a strict voice cut through the crowd like a knife and every cheer died down in a choke,". . . I did not mean you could ignore common sense and take control of the street, Rosemary Green."

Rose's shoulders slumped and her wand fell. Mouth agape, she stared at the bald man dressed in a bright yellow robe that was looking at her from amongst the crowd. Professor Drake didn't seem happy; a scowl, more pronounced than his usual one, altered his features and his eyes threw daggers.

Rosemary looked at the shattered pillar, Akilles bowing to her in adoration and the rest of the Cyclops, then back to the floor where her spell had attached itself like a stain, "I. . . um, can. . . explain?"

"Yes, child. Care to elaborate?" Professor Drake raised his eyebrow, moving his hand to contain in a single gesture all the situation. Needless to say, that afternoon, she never made it to the Dark Cave.

* * *

 **Ooh, poor Rose. Professor Drake seemed rather crossed! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you so wish, do leave a review, I like them very much. :)**


	24. The Alchemy Teacher

**Heya everyone! Took a bit longer with this one but it is finally finished. Last time we focused on Rose and** **her attempts at getting to the Dark Cave, which well… resulted in quite a weird bunch of stuff happening. This chapter will focus back on Shard instead, and yes! We are finally heading to the Dark Cave!**

 **After all this time someone else followed and favorited this story! Thank you for the support! It really means a lot to me. :)**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 24 - The Alchemy Teacher**_

* * *

It was only a week after the events in Cyclops Lane that the four novices managed to organize a meet-up in front of the Dark Cave. Shard and Kane had been beyond busy with Falmea's extra courses and Rose had somehow managed to incur in the wrath of Professor Drake, vanishing inside the Myth tower with a desperate grimace every day after the lessons. Emer was the only one among them who had free afternoons, but how she decided to spend them, nobody knew.

When Shard wasn't studying for the latest test, he was reading Malistaire's biography. It was an interesting read, as Rose had said, and although there was no mention of black cats, a detail, in particular, stood out.

Dragonspyre. Malistaire and Sylvia were born in Dragonspyre.

Such news would have made Shard doubtful and insecure before, attempting to wrap his head around the fact that, whether he desired it or not, everything led to that place. To the city that more often than not, haunted his dreams.

That wasn't the case though. After the encounter with Rattlebones in Unicorn Way, he felt both, more anxious, and with a strong desire of doing something. Truthfully, the decision of going to the Dark Cave, upon Rose's suggestion, came with extreme ease.

The fear he had felt towards the surroundings and his enormous doubts regarding magic seemed to have completely shifted their focus. No more did Shard fear for his life to be taken by a wizard. The bitter feeling he felt slithering up his throat was because of himself. He feared that he could do something unforgivable to those around him.

Shard needed to face his fears and discover what was going on before Malistaire attacked the city again, and he, due to his bad luck, was caught in a pinch, releasing that power again. The power of the mysterious boy sitting on the crystal throne.

There was no running away from it. He had to research more about Dragonspyre, Malistaire, the black cat or anything that could give him answers about why he was in the city of wizards in the first place, something that could answer Ambrose's reasons for summoning two children to a world in danger.

A sudden shudder and he subconsciously hugged himself. If only he believed he could control that power, he would have felt safer, but after his outburst, he knew. He knew that he liked the feel of power. The laugh that had erupted from his throat as fairies were mercilessly killed, lingered clear as day in his ears. How could he tell his friends?

 _That's not me. It's him. It's that boy!_ He desperately thought.

"Are you sure it's a good idea? It's… dark," Emer said, peering beyond the broken metal bars and into the shadows of the cave.

"Well, it's the-"Kane said.

"I know, Dark Cave, obviously it has to be dark," Emer completed for him.

"Let's go, those Cyclopes freak me out," Rose said, brandishing her bag in a pitiful attempt at hiding herself behind it.

"Yeah, about that… why are they saluting you?! They usually would never do that to anyone but the general," Kane said.

"Oh, they must have mistaken me for someone else," Rose cut short, making her first steps in the cavern.

The inside of the cave was spacious, with the road continuing in a straight line and disappearing into the darkness. The faint flapping of wings echoed from the ceiling above, perhaps a colony of bats disturbed by their sudden arrival and the creaking of a door in the distance made everyone jolt.

"I-I'll make some light." A small fire flickered into existence on the tip of Kane's wand, making it resemble a lighter. Rose opened her bag and took out an old oil lamp, brought along just for the occasion, and gave it to him.

"Thanks," Kane mumbled in response as he lighted it up.

The warm glow accompanied them as they walked deeper into the cave. The houses, as it appeared in the Haunted Cave, didn't seem to be inhabited, but Kane assured everyone that there were always some crazy person willing to pass their entire life locked up in a dark cave.

"What do you expect to find in here? I mean, it's not like we can break into his house," Emer said, shifting her weight uncomfortably from feet to feet when Kane stopped to read the address of a nearby house.

"I don't know… Something, anything," Shard replied, holding tight the strap of his bag, his voice carrying mixed feelings of urgency and fear.

Everyone looked at him, worried glances illuminated by the pale light of the lamp. Shard decided to ignore them, feinting interest in a nearby fence, entirely covered in soot.

They didn't know about the boy on the throne of crystals. They didn't know that he laughed as he killed those fairies. They didn't know that he was beyond the point of no return. Magic had become a part of him and he couldn't let it go for as much as he hated it. For as much as he tried to negate it, casting that spell had felt almost like making up with a long-lost sibling. He craved to feel the touch of magic again.

"There it is!" Finally, Kane said.

Malistaire's house didn't stand out too much from the other buildings around it. Well, that was if it weren't for the huge eye staring right into the soul of anyone daring to trespass on his property. The abnormally large eyeball was attached above a common-looking wooden door and kept watch over the small, unkempt garden in front of the entrance.

"We saw the house now, happy? I don't think we are going to get any answers from that thing," Emer said. She did her best to avoid fidgeting, keeping her hands in her pockets. Her eyes darted nervously from left to right and randomly sent Shard worried glances.

It was then that Shard remembered, that Emer had a personal vendetta against caves since Malorn's introduction to Death Magic. Dragging her into a cave made her devolve from her usual cheery self into a scaredy cat, ready to jump at the first notice of something seemingly dangerous.

"Maybe, we can break in!" Kane exclaimed out of the blue, attempting to climb over the fence.

It was a with the coordinated effort of the remaining three that he was kept from climbing over the fence. After Kane was brought down and properly lectured on the importance of thinking before giving in to stupid whims, it was mostly safe to assume that he would have kept his distance from the house.

"Just what's with you and breaking into places?" Rose said, shaking her head in disapproval.

Kane's fascination and irrational behavior regarding locked places was something all of them were mystified about. The Pyromancer couldn't resist his curiosity and more often than not, he would find colorful ways to get exactly where he shouldn't. Once, he was almost eaten by something locked away in the Fire School's pantry. To that day, nobody knew what it was that Kane had seen behind that door.

"Hey, you there! What are you doing? It's dangerous!"

The four of them turned to face the source of the voice. On the other side of the road, wrapped in a purple mantle, stood an old lady. Carrying along with her a basket filled with blue mushrooms and adjusting her pointed wizard hat, she closed the distance between them in a few seconds.

"Quickly, get away from there before you set off the traps!" she said with her raspy voice.

All of them heeded her warning, if not for the fear of triggering a magical trap, then just because of her urgent tone and strict demeanor. Following the lady from a safe distance away, lest they make her mad again, they made their way to the other side of the road.

"Just what were you thinking? Don't you understand the dangers of meddling with the Necromaster?"

"Sorry... um, we were just curious, that's it," Shard said, glancing back to the house for an instant.

"Curiosity killed the cat, dear," she replied. Then, with an imperious tone that gave Professor Drake a run for his money, she pointed to a bunch of wooden baskets containing mushrooms, moss and some weird looking plants. "Instead of losing time, help me out with these, novices."

Before anyone else said anything, the woman just turned on her heel and started walking down the road. The novices looked at each other and shrugged. Was that woman just leaving them there without any explanation whatsoever?

Before they could voice their opinion, the woman turned around again, glared at them as if her day had just been ruined, and then spat, "If you help me out, I will tell you everything I know about Malistaire."

Without thinking too much about it, they picked the baskets and followed the old lady. Her offer did sound tempting when they thought about it. It wasn't like they could find out anything without breaking into the house, something which, everyone except for one, wasn't willing to do. Heading towards the exit of the cave, they left behind the coldness of Death magic, which had slowly managed to seep down to their bones.

The sight that awaited them outside was something Shard wasn't prepared for. Statues of big cats guarded the corners of the road, like silent guardians that were ready to jump on anyone that threatened them. Red scorched stones made up the main road which slithered and turned, making it unclear which way was the right one to get back to the Olde Town. Many torches illuminated the entrances of the houses and the very walls bore red and yellow decorations of flames. The sky itself seemed to be tinted orange as if the sun was already about to set.

The woman paid them no mind and kept her pace. Shard found it hard not to fall behind, while Emer didn't even seem to be trying to keep up with the lady, grinning happily and trying to take everything in with her eyes. After a short talk with Kane, Shard realized that it was Firecat Alley, the street where Kane lived.

"What about coming for a visit? I want you to meet Dorotea!" Kane said.

"Doro… what?" Shard asked.

"Dorotea, it's our pet… Well, she was my Grandfather's…"

"Oh, alright. I guess we can…"

"No guessing, we're coming for sure! Kane, you had a pet and didn't even tell me?!" Emer intervened, going on and on about her love for animals, without giving Kane much of a chance to add anything else.

It took a while to get to the woman's house. They walked all the way to an old looking tower, standing alone on a stone island reachable through the use of an unsafe looking wooden bridge. Luckily, they didn't head there and continued until they reached a small house, devoid of a garden, squashed between two larger buildings in an almost comical way. The door was decorated with arcane symbols which Shard didn't recognize, and small pots and vases stood guard over the window's ledge, filled with a wide range of plants, mostly sporting bright red leaves.

The woman opened the door and shoved the basket inside, then turned to the novices with a stern look. "You, redhead, water the mandrakes, You over there blondie, help me out in the kitchen and you two, put the mushrooms in the pantry, will you?" she commanded, pointing at each one of them as she barked orders.

"But-"Kane's complain was cut off almost instantly.

"Do as I tell you if you want to hear out what I have to say on the whole matter."

The young wizards shared a silent discussion with their eyes, then deciding to give the lady a chance, they did as she ordered.

It was an hour later when the lady finally let them sit down at the table and deigned to speak to them like actual people, and not her personal slaves. The introductions took little time. The lady just introduced herself as Gretta Darkkettle and told each one of them to call her Mrs. Darkkettle. She didn't seem to have much interest in their names, though Shard could have sworn that she darted some glances his way from time to time. He figured she was just trying to come up with a way to give all of them more work.

"So, what do you know about Malistaire? We helped you out," Shard asked.

"Me? Nothing, I was never much of a friend of his." She shrugged.

"Hey, That wasn't the deal!" Rose stood up and glared down at Mrs. Darkkettle.

"Triffles, my dear. The deal was that I had to tell you what I knew, and the case wants that I do not know anything about that man. Oh, since you're already standing up, would you be kind and get me some of those mushrooms and my knife? Need to prepare them for a healing drought."

The expression painted on Rose's face was that of someone betrayed on the day of her birthday. Without even replying to the old lady, she sat down and crossed her arms in challenge. Mrs. Darkkettle merely rolled her eyes, took out her wand and waved it. A bunch of Mushrooms and a knife came flying from the kitchen and landed on the table.

Shard wasn't sure how to handle the woman in front of him. Technically, she had tricked them, but he had a nagging feeling that there was something more to it. That feeling had stayed with him since she had asked them to help her out with her baskets. Kane, on the other hand, seemed to have decided quickly, sighing and shaking his head in defeat, getting ready to leave.

"We're sorry if we're being a bother, but we really need to know more about that man…" Emer said, stopping Rose from adding anything else by sending her a significant glance.

"At least one of you knows some manners. Bartleby knows why the new generations have so little respect for the elders."

Rose snorted and turned to look out the window. Shard, on the other hand, observed the woman better. There was something odd about the whole situation. Looking at her wand, the nagging feeling became clearer.

"You do want to tell us something, do you?" he said, surprising himself by how firm his voice came out.

"That I do," Mrs. Darkkettle said. Her eyes fixed themselves on Shard and eyed him with keen interest. "And how is that you were so sure?"

"For being a Wizard, you surely didn't even try to use magic to carry your mushrooms… and for having so little to say, you wouldn't have made us sit at the table," he said.

It was odd. For as long as he could remember, he had never been so direct in his questions, let alone accuses, but that woman triggered something. All his senses screamed that there were second motives to everything she did or said. It was unwise to trust her and even worse, ignore her.

"Ever heard of innocent little pranks?" Mrs. Darkkettle replied, not hiding a smirk of satisfaction once she finished chopping a particularly big mushroom into tiny little pieces.

"You pranked us?" Kane sighed. "Fine, I'll break into the house, she won't tell us anything anyway." The Pyromancer quickly made his way to the door, took hold of the handle and turned it. The door was locked.

"Wha-"

"The impatience of you, novices, is something that always amused me. Now sit down, and I'll do something better than tell you about Malistaire in whispers like any scared mouse that mentions him."

It took a bit of time and convincing for everyone to agree to listen to Mrs. Darkkettle and though it felt like losing precious time for them, it seemed that the old witch enjoyed every second of it.

"What would you think if I told you, the Death School is still in Wizard City?" she began.

The statement was met with mixed responses, ranging from Rose's pure interest to Kane's shrug. Mrs. Darkkettle took hold of another mushroom and with the expertise of someone who had done so all his life, started chopping it down to tiny bits.

"Indeed. Malistaire never managed to tear it apart completely, doing so is something rather difficult. The Death School is still around, I tell you, and it might even hold some information on what that man is plotting."

"How can you be so sure? Nobody knows what happened to the school, not even the headmaster!" Rose said.

"Oh, dear, seems like you really want to know," Mrs. Darkkettle said, taking a break from her work, taking her wand out once again, and pointing on the table.

A short spell from the witch was all it took for a skull to materialize on the table. It was candidly white, unnaturally so, with onyxes firmly planted in its eye sockets, glowing with a sinister light. The raw aura of death and decay that the thing radiated was enough for Shard to understand that it was a powerful relic of Death.

"This is something I stumbled upon a few days after the Death School went missing. You see, these sort of things are popping out everywhere these days, and they surely come from the school."

"But going as far as saying that the school is still in Wizard City-" Rose's argument was cut off short.

"You may not be aware of it, novice, but there are impossibly powerful and complex wards around the city at all times. If the Death School was really cut off, floating somewhere between worlds, then these relics couldn't possibly find their way here."

"Wards?" Shard inquired. It was the first time he had heard of anything like that. The mere idea that the city itself was protected by way more than sturdy walls had never even crossed his mind.

"Good Bartleby, you didn't think Grandfather Tree was left completely defenseless, did you? Six of them there are, each of them engraved on the floor of a School Tower. As I said, nothing that is considered a threat can bypass those protections, so either the wards aren't working anymore-"

"Or Malistaire has managed to use the Death School's ward as a gateway!" Rose completed, visibly paling as the new information sunk in.

"Thank you, novice. Your interruption was extremely necessary. Tsk, and they ask why I don't teach anymore…"

"Uh? But a ward is like a wall blocking magic, right? How can he use it as a 'gateway'?" Kane asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"Imagine it as having a door in the wall. You can open it or close it whenever you want," Rose cleared up.

"Oh, that makes sense!"

"H-Have you told Ambrose about that?" Emer's interest, barely kept at bay through an unconvincing act, lest Mrs. Darkkettle decided to play with them some more.

The old wizard smiled wryly. "I did, but he wouldn't listen. The old fool looked for it himself, though not paying nearly enough attention as he should have had. He was wrapped in another bunch of complex problems demanding answers. If I wouldn't have known better, he finally went senile."

"You're talking about the Headmaster of Ravenwood!" Kane exclaimed.

"Yeah, you're right. There's no chance his head is working properly by now. That place is an asylum."

"Hey!" This time it was Rose who raised her voice.

"Anyways," Mrs. Darkkettle cut short. "Even though I left Ravenwood in hopes of pursuing something more satisfactory than educating students, which between you and me, have in their ranks some of the most idiotic people I have ever met, I have decided to help you, just for this one time."

Waving her wand half-heartedly, almost like she was attempting to shoo a fly, she summoned four vials full of a sizzling blue liquid. With the most impatient eye-rolling Shard had ever seen, Mrs. Darkkettle prompted them to take one each when she saw they limited themselves to look at them from afar. "Drink these in front of Bartleby. Make sure nobody is there or you will be in great trouble. This might answer a question or two."

"Uh, thanks…" Shard said, narrowing his eyes to inspect the potion. There was no way he was drinking poison when nobody was around to give him an antidote.

"Just… what is it?" Rose asked.

"Potion of History, my dear. Potion of History."

Rose widened her eyes and kept it at a safe distance from her face, almost as if it was a bomb about to explode. Her cheeks reddened when everybody else looked at her questioningly and she blushed profusely."It's just… I heard it's extremely rare…"

"It is, but luckily, you are talking to Ravenwood's former Alchemy teacher."

Leaving them with that and not bothering to answer any more questions about her life as a teacher, Mrs. Darkkettle strongly advised them to leave soon if they wanted to avoid becoming guinea pigs for her next experiment. The former Alchemy teacher didn't even bother to see them off, merely unlocking the door and telling them to scram.

The novices heeded her warning and made it quickly to the door. A little detail caught Shard's attention before he stepped outside, though, resulting in him addressing the old lady for one last time. His eyes were fixed on a bowl on the floor, full of what appeared to be cat food, when he asked, "Do you own a cat?"

Mrs. Darkkettle smiled. "Oh, I don't."

* * *

 **Ooh, Gretta Darkkettle seems to know her facts. What might this Potion of History be? You can either wait for next chapters, or get a bit ahead and find information about it in game. :P**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and any kind of constructive criticism or support is greatly appreciated.**

 **It might take a while for next chapter, not much in a writing mood these days… so might need more than two weeks with all the planning and writing that still needs to be done.**


	25. Dinner with the Fireblades

_**A/N: Hey there, I'm alive, don't worry! I have been quite busy since the last update and ended up having a break from my work on this story altogether for a while. I can't promise regular weekly updates as I used to, but will try my best for biweekly from now on.**_

 _ **Oh, I also fixed up and revised the chapters up to chapter 8. They should be a tad bit better now. The only major change was an extra scene in chapter 4 from Alex's point of view. It isn't super important to read it, but it does give some insight on his relationship with his uncle, the reason he doesn't like Shard, and why Stormhearts and Fireblades don't get along. You can go back and read it, or just leave it at that. (I will touch upon the most important things later on, regardless.)**_

 _ **Anyway, enjoy the newest chapter! :D**_

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 _ **Chapter 25 – Dinner with the Fireblades**_

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A continuous stream of blazing hot lava spewed from the obsidian sculpture of a dragon's head, trickling down the highly detailed teeth and gathering down in a large basin under it, resembling a Fire elemental's hot bath. The fountain, standing majestic on the road's side, acted as both a light source and heating, though, in Shard's honest opinion, the temperature was already high enough without adding any fancy heaters.

With a spring in his step, Kane led the group past it, turning around every once in a while to make sure everyone else was following him. Crossing the street, he led them through one of the alleys that departed from the main road.

A large house, three stories high, towered above the smaller ones. Large windows and balconies decorated with sculptures of drakes gave the place an overly pretentious and eccentric look, standing out even more compared to any other building. A banner, with the symbol of a drake holding a sword in its mouth, waved just above the front door, and a small sign read, 'beware of the dragon.'

It was met with little to no surprise when Kane stopped at the front door. Somehow, knowing that they were heading to Kane's house, Shard had already imagined the building to resemble that of a mad dragon-lover.

"Not a word on the potion. My parents don't want me to accept stuff from random witches," Kane warned them, reinforcing the concept by bringing his index finger to his lips, gesturing silence.

"And here I was thinking it was the first thing I would have done once I stepped inside," Rose rolled her eyes, brushing her hand on the vial, safely tucked in one of her robe's pockets.

"Just making sure," Kane smirked.

A good amount of knocking was needed before the door finally opened. Kane's mother welcomed them with warm smiles and kind words. She was a tall woman, almost rivaling in height Madame Falmea herself, though, her features weren't elven, but softer and definitely human. Her dark brown hair was tied up in a braid, resting on her right shoulder, and her eyes, which were light brown, and not red as Shard had always imagined the eyes of Kane's parents to be, lit up when the novices introduced themselves.

The similarity between mother and son was undeniable. The enthusiasm she showed by bringing all of them in the living room, asking them what did they want for dinner left no room for doubt. Especially when she took out her wand and lit it up, playfully announcing that she was off to the kitchen.

The living room was very spacious, with two fireplaces facing each other on both sides of the room, ensuring that the temperature didn't decrease by an inch. In a similar fashion, two luxurious sofas mirrored each other, standing in front of the burning embers. Ancient-looking swords, shields, and wands decorated the walls, which in turn seemed to have an interesting pattern of dragon heads. A long wooden table divided the place in two, complete with a set of sturdy-looking chairs.

"Dorotea, where are you?" Kane asked to the empty room.

Shard took a few moments to remember that Dorotea was, in fact, the name of Kane's pet. The details of which type of pet were still unclear though, and Shard could only make a rough prediction by taking into consideration the Fireblades' obsession with everything dragon-like.

Upon hearing Kane's voice, a small dragon head peeked out from under the sofa. The animal seemed excited upon seeing, Kane and expressed her happiness by making weird guttural noises. In a few seconds, Dorotea had exited her lair under the sofa and started a mad dash towards Kane, claws slipping on the smooth floor.

She was as large as a chihuahua, and her tongue was flapping out and about as if she really believed to be one. Her scales were ruby red and her claws and horns, obsidian black. With practiced feline jumps, aided by the flapping of her wings, Dorotea found her way atop Kane's head, and perched up there like a queen in her castle.

"Awww! How cute!" Emer cooed, tentatively approaching the pet.

"Want to pet her?" Kane asked, lifting the small dragon from his head and cradling her in his arms. Dorotea seemed far too happy to be at the centre of attention, flailing its tail in joy at the sight of the many people in the room.

Emer didn't even hesitate at the request, and with gentle strokes, she began petting Dorotea. Rose couldn't resist either and soon enough, both girls were taking turns at carrying Dorotea like a stuffed animal. Surprisingly, the dragon didn't really seem to care, basking in the attention and replying with some cooing of her own.

"How long did you have her for?" Rose asked.

"You know what? I don't really know… She is definitely older than Flint and I… Maybe even older than dad…"

"Really? Well… I know that dragons are particularly long-lived, but it's kinda weird to meet one that actually is…" Rose watched Dorotea with far more respect than before, maybe with a tiny bit of reverence for her age and overall cuteness.

"Why didn't you bring her with you at Unicorn Park?" Emer said, cradling the dragon in her arms.

Kane scratched the back of his neck and laughed nervously. "Well… Every time I take her out, everyone just wants to pet her… so it takes ages to get anywhere really…"

"Oh, I understand. Come on Shard, Doridori's scales are awesome to touch!" Emer said, scratching the back of Dorotea's and grinning stupidly.

"Doridori?" Shard knew there and then, that if he wanted to keep Emer sane and focused, he had to limit her exposition to the now dubbed Doridori as much as possible, lest she started talking like a four-year-old. He would have lied if he said that it had never happened before.

"Yes, pet her a bit too!" she said, offering the small dragon to him.

Watching her closely, Shard did admit that Dorotea was very cuddly and cute. Truth to be told, he really wanted to pet her too. Gently lifting his hand, he moved it closer to the pet.

It was instantaneous. Shard's gaze crossed Dorotea's and something clicked in her reptile eyes. She hissed and freed herself from Emer's grip, flying through the room and hiding from sight under the sofa.

"Oh… She never does that to anyone," Kane commented, wide-eyed as he stared at the sofa.

Shard was left there, hand raised in the motion of petting an animal that wasn't there anymore. Dorotea's refusal hitting him like a slap in the face.

"I guess we better get down to business with the duel against Alex and Evelyn," Emer said, evidently desperately trying to divert Shard' s attention from the pet.

Shard lowered his hand. "Yeah, you're right."

Everyone took their place in one of the chairs around the table, probably trying to put as much distance as possible between them and the impossible heat coming out of the fireplace. None of them mentioned anything about Mrs. Darkkettle, Malistaire, and the black cat to avoid being overheard from the nearby rooms and the conversation started right away with the duel, something which, despite everything else that had happened, was approaching fast.

"Halloween is in a couple of weeks… so, what's the plan?" Rose asked, standing upright and stiff like she would as if she was sitting in class.

"No plans, we go in there and pew pew," Kane smirked, mimicking wand movements.

"We do need a plan. It's Alex we're talking about. Actually even with a plan, we have little to no chance to win against them and their team," Rose insisted, giving Kane a significant look.

Emer seemed to deflate on the spot, her usual cheeriness a bit dimmed. "I agree with Rose on this one. I heard he is the best novice, this year, and well… lots of unpleasant things about his personality, but that's beside the point. He gets full marks in virtually everything he does, and Evelyn has somewhat good grades with Professor Drake. She definitely knows what she's doing."

Kane laughed and talked in a dramatic, low tone of voice,"All ha il the young Alex Stormheart, keeper of the secrets contained in the magical Heart of Storms, and a magical prodigy no one can defeat!" He shook his head. "We are freaking out even before fighting. He's not that good."

"Yeah…" Shard couldn't help but agree. "Yeah, Kane you are right…" he repeated.

"I am?"

Shard lifted his gaze, which had been fixed on the colorful Persian carpet on the floor. Eyeing Kane straight in his eyes, he said, "Sure."

Emer and Rose eyed him as if he had just announced that he would have walked backwards for the rest of his days. Shard himself was surprised. He was cornered and helpless. The duel with Alex was approaching fast and he couldn't hope to be much help without magic, but on the contrary, if he did try to use magic, he could end up meeting the boy on the crystal throne again.

Faced with such a situation, he should have been scared out of his mind. There was something preventing him from panicking though, and it was the hope for a third way out. Truth to be told, he was tired. Tired that he felt always scared, tired of not being able to do anything, tired of feeling helpless and what it entailed.

"Let me lift the weight from your shoulders, come back and rest." The words of the boy on the crystal throne echoed in his mind like a broken record.

Those words had the opposite effect. Shard wanted to be in control of his life, no magic influencing his decisions, no people to tell him what he could or couldn't do. As such, he would have given his best in the upcoming duel, magic or no magic. The thoughts of his high chances of losing were swept under an imaginary rug in his mind as he frantically looked for a way out of his mess.

Taking a breath, he addressed his friends one by one, "Rose, you are as good with magic theory as Alex is, I'm sure of it. You just have a horrible Professor. Kane, Falmea herself is proud of your fast progress and you even managed to summon a dragon on the second day of school, Alex can't beat that." He made a little pause, and then, turning to Emer, he smirked, "And you Emer, you just never know when to give up. You made me actually like Wizard City and I'm not going to leave it anytime soon just because Alex betted against us."

Emer laughed and patted him on the back, "And you, my friend, overthink things too much. Let's come up with a strategy."

The next hour was spent with them bouncing ideas off each other, attempting to come up with a satisfactory plan. Kane even went as far as showing Rose some of the books about magical dueling. Books that according to Kane himself, helped his grandfather a great deal in his time as a duelist.

"Charm stacking, ward priority, and efficient trap targets… It's not like we need this stuff. We don't even know how to cast these!" Emer complained, pushing the book away from herself and picking another.

Rose picked it up, flipped it open, and slowly moved a finger down the glossary. "I know that, but maybe they are going to use them against us and we must be prepared."

"Then what do we do when we'll need to… I don't know… attack them?" Kane inquired. Shard was one hundred percent sure that Kane regretted showing those books to Rose in the first place.

"We'll need to get the basics down and be able to cast spells without taking too much time to do so. He is Storm, he will definitely try to finish it fast."

"Oh, we're just practicing what the Professors teach then?" Emer took out her newly bought wand, and made a few smooth gestures, leaving behind pale green trails of Life Magic.

Professor Ambrose himself had given her the new wand, a compensation for her old one, broken during the attack on Unicorn Way. "No novice should go without a wand," he had said.

Rose thought about what Emer said and nodded. "There is no time to learn unusual stuff, but we can always use normal stuff and make it work in unusual ways."

"That sounds cool!" Kane, even when trying to make it seem like he was actually paying attention, was trying hard to find an opening to get the book out of Rose's hand.

Shard would have agreed with everything if only there wasn't one little problem that gnawed at the back of his mind; he still needed to learn the basic practical stuff. Determined to practice more, even at the cost of lowering his grades in the written tests, he closed his hand into a fist.

"I can't believe it! Kane is… studying?!" Everyone turned to the source of the new voice. Flint Fireblade looked at them from the nearby room, amusement written all over his face as if expecting a reaction from his brother. This time, Flint Fireblade was far more relaxed than when Shard had met in Unicorn Way, though, in his defense, that was a far deadlier situation.

The boy tilted his head and narrowed his eyes as if considering some thought of extreme Importance, then he seemed to dismiss it and shrugged, "Nah, I must be under some sort of illusion. Kane can't open books."

With quick reflexes, Flint easily avoided a book that was thrown his way by his younger brother, much to Rose's dismay, and added, "Came here just to tell everyone that dinner is ready."

Kane furrowed his brows. "But dad isn't back yet."

"We're eating anyway, the council might take a while."

"Fine."

And just like that, they found themselves at the table while Mrs. Fireblade distributed food on their plates with practiced wand movements.

Between one mouthful of tender meat accompanied by perfectly roasted potatoes and another, they talked about their day, especially Kane's day at school, due to Mrs. Fireblade's aimed questions.

Shard assumed that Kane didn't speak too much about homework and school at home, mainly because his mother started bombarding Shard with loads of questions as soon as she found out that he was in Kane's class.

They were almost finished when a sudden knocking at the door interrupted Flint's complaining about how boring patrol duty was. With little to no expert wizards to call upon, Ambrose had resorted to giving increasingly difficult jobs to Adepts, making them patrol the city almost as much as guards.

Kane literally jumped up from his chair and went to the door. Muffled voices came from the entrance hall and Kane's father made his appearance. He was shorter than his wife, well-built and dressed in finely woven robes, worthy of a noble. His red hair was ruffled, almost as if he had flown all the way there on a crazy dragon, and his goatee gave him an air of importance.

"Being late is turning into a habit these, days," Mrs. Fireblade said, crossing her arms over her chest."Everything alright at the council?"

"Old Ambrose is all jittery after the second ward…" he stopped talking abruptly. Red eyes, much like Kane's, took in the surroundings, lazily lingering on the three guests sitting at the table.

"We've got guests this evening," Mrs. Fireblade replied to the unsaid question lingering between them.

"I see. Well, let's eat!"

The cheery mood came back quickly when Mr. Fireblade sat down and started eating. Stories were traded, some interesting and others mundane. From the weird situations that Flint found himself in with his team, to rumors that a new general had risen among the Cyclops. A person shrouded in mystery who was said to have beaten Eyus Maximus thanks to a magical artifact.

Rose seemed surprised by the topic, choking on her dessert and getting into a fit of coughs. Mr. Fireblade looked at her amused as if there was a particularly fun inside joke going on between them.

"You found some quite interesting friends, Kane," Mr. Fireblade said as he too finished his piece of cake. The man had managed to wolf down his food at an impossible pace, catching up with the rest of them in time for the desert.

Kane placed his fork back on the plate."What do you mean?"

He grinned. "They are trouble magnets, of course! Stick with them and you'll have the fun of your life!"

Kane widened his eyes and grinned, "I'll stick to them like glue!"

"Martin!" Mrs. Fireblade shouted indignantly. "First and foremost, don't fill your son's head with nonsense! Secondly, you can't define guests as troublemakers!" Waving her wand in the direction of the empty plates she made them poof away. "And you, Kane, stay out of trouble, am I clear?"

Kane rolled his eyes. "Yes, mother."

"I was just joking, Victoria. They didn't take it personally, did they? I used to be, and still am a perfect trouble-magnet myself… In a loose sense, it can be said that getting in trouble is a Fireblade tradition at this point."

"As if I didn't know…" Mrs. Fireblade muttered, shaking her head softly.

The novices' cheeks flushed red due to them being defined as trouble-magnets. Shard knew perfectly well that after the multiple incidents, which Mr. Fireblade was surely aware of, the definition of trouble magnet was perfect. What he didn't know, was why Rose acted as if she had something to hide too.

Mrs. Fireblade let go whatever argument she wanted to raise against her husband. Getting to her feet, she patted her husband on the shoulder. "Talking about being in trouble. You promised you'd take me to the theatre tonight."

"Of course, darling, how could I forget such a foreboding event."

The comment was followed by some sniggering coming from the children.

"Shush, no complaining. Flint, your brother and his friends are under your responsibility until we get back."

"Alright, alright, just go already," Flint smirked, waving them off.

Kane's parents didn't take much time to be out of the door and strolling down the way. The Fireglobe Theatre wasn't that far, according to Kane, it was just around the corner.

When the two adults were out of sight, Flint turned to them and shrugged. "Not going to stare at you lot until they're back. Just promise me you won't break anything, nor sick an army of Fire Elves on the alley or anything like that…"

Kane made himself taller and replied with confidence, "Sure, who do you think you're talking to?"

Flint merely raised an eyebrow, stared them down one by one and shook his head. "I know perfectly well who I'm talking to…"

Rose opened her mouth in what appeared to be the start of a very convincing counter-argument, but Flint silenced her quickly. "I wouldn't speak if I were you, general."

A red tint appeared on Rose's cheeks and she hid it with her hands. A couple of excuses and gibberish were muttered from her mouth until she found her way out of the room, mumbling something about going to the bathroom.

Flint's mouth stretched into a smirk and his eyes followed the young conjurer with amusement. Once she got out of sight, he made Shard, Emer, and especially Kane, promise to avoid blowing up the house, and then made his way to his room on the upper floors.

It took Rose ten minutes to meet them back into the entrance hall and she did so like a frightened mouse, looking out for a dangerous cat. After shifting her gaze left and right and making sure that Flint wasn't there, she made a pitiful attempt at acting as if nothing had happened at all.

"Care to explain what's up with you and the Fireblades?" Emer asked.

"N-nothing, much. A-anyway, w-we were talking about a strategy for the duel."

Kane was the first to respond, making sure to share all of his dislike for the idea. "We talked about that for an eternity! Wanna see if there is something interesting in the attic?"

"Why there should be anything interesting in an attic?" Emer asked, slowly lifting her head to look at the stairs.

"Well, it's got old stuff from Dragonspyre, for a change."

"Dragonspyre?!" Shard choked, stiffening up and staring at Kane as if he had grown a second head.

"Sure, it's my grandpa's stuff, he came from there."

It was a tacit accord what made Shard, Emer and Kane dash upstairs, climbing the steps two at a time. Rose's voice reached them in a startled squeak, warning them to avoid actually blowing up the house. The warning fell flat without any response and another set of feet rushed to the upper floors.

Shard wasn't sure why he wanted to rummage through Kane's grandfather's stuff. In truth, he had no idea what there could be in the attic. It was a fact that Malistaire himself came from Dragonspyre, and books about the city were quite vague about everything. Maybe looking at things from that world, they could find something out. Shard himself knew that it was a poor excuse, but desperation led to such thoughts.

The attic was an oven. All the warmth coming from the many fireplaces seemed to have climbed its way into the dusty room and settled there for good. A single inextinguishable torch illuminated the place, and shadows danced were the random piles of objects obstructed its light.

There were countless tables, chairs and wardrobes messily lying about, and on top of them, smaller objects, like crystal balls, paintings, scrolls, and small decorative dragon statues. A stone slab, two meters in height and one in width, was precariously placed on top of a golden treasure chest, and golden coins littered the floor like in some kind of dragon den.

Wherever there was a little space among the larger and more cumbersome furniture, cardboard boxes occupied it, leaving little to no space for people to walk.

Emer surveyed the messy room with an all-encompassing glance. "Kane, you didn't tell us your grandpa was a hoarder!"

"It's mostly stuff from his old house in Dragonspyre, my parents didn't really like it."

"I see… Well, let's see if there is anything interesting!"

And following a rather excited Emer, the four of them started looking through the stuff. Shard and Rose had to convince Emer and Kane to avoid opening a very dangerous looking chest. It had a skull engraved on the lock and pointy spikes covering the rest of the surface, and it really did look like something containing some dangerous magical artifact. Eventually, Kane and Emer gave in to their own curiosity and found out, much to their dismay, that it was utterly empty.

Rose was drawn to the books of an ancient looking bookcase and started reading what looked like a chronology of the events that led to Dragonspyre's fall, barely lifting her gaze and leaving the others to do as they pleased.

Shard, on the other hand, wasn't sure what he was looking for. Skimming through books, opening wardrobes and running his hand over frail furniture covered in dust. There it was again, that feeling of familiarity while he glanced over a broken chandelier. The dragon statuettes looked almost alive, whispering to him words that nagged at the back of his mind like a faint glimmer behind a dark veil. Paying attention not to break it, he took hold of one of the paintings abandoned in a corner and turned it around.

A boy with spiky, scarlet hair and warm, red eyes smiled back at him. Gasping for air, Shard almost dropped the portrait. With ragged breath, his eyes stared at the boy's face, so similar to Kane's, yet he gave a completely different feeling.

The boy in the portrait was an experienced fighter. Slowly, he glanced to the left, to a boy with Messy black hair and piercing, blue eyes. A sudden pain split his head in half, cutting through his mind like a sharp sword. Scraps of memories, things that were better left buried, flashed in front of his eyes.

 _Robert…_

He dropped the painting and stepped backwards, holding his head in his hands in a fruitless attempt to claw the pain away.

"Shard are you okay?!"Someone shouted in panic, but Shard had already fallen to his knees, unable to gather enough air in his lungs to even scream.

Falling to the floor, hazy images passed in front of his eyes. A voice talked to him, words unclear. A playful smirk belonging to a red haired boy. Then, as it all had started, it passed. With trembling hands, Shard lifted himself upright. Rose and Emer eyed him worriedly and Kane offered himself as support to avoid him stumbling back to the floor. Shard was grateful for it, for he doubted he could make even a step without blacking out.

"Let's go downstairs. Flint might help," Kane offered, herding Shard to the staircase.

On his way downstairs, Shard could distinctively hear Rose's voice behind him. "The portrait… he looks just like Shard, just with blue eyes…"

Emer's whispered response was way harder to overhear. "He does… but the boy in the portrait looks older…"

* * *

 _ **Some things are being hinted at, Kane's parents were finally introduced, and the novices are preparing for the upcoming duel. All in all, this one is a setup chapter for some pretty interesting things coming next. Yes, you'll finally get a taste of Malistaire's plans, some more information on this mysterious Robert, and maybe a bit more about the boy who looks like Shard.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed reading it, and see you next time!**_


	26. The Fireglobe Burns

_**Chapter 26 – The Fireglobe Burns**_

A powerful spell blasted the sturdy iron door open, breaking it's hinges and making it land loudly on the dirty stone floor. After casting the spell, Susie Gryphonbane hid behind the wall, cautiously peeking into the room before proceeding further.

The climb hadn't been easy by any means, and the young Diviner had left countless ghouls sprawled on the staircases and rooms of the tower on her way up, literally beating the magic that kept them moving out of them with her own spells. Behind her, the ragged breaths of her brother, Artur, who just as planned covered her back in case something tried to ambush them.

"Be on guard," she whispered, squeezing her little brother's arm.

"Sure, sis," Artur replied, adapting to her same whispery tone.

Silently counting to three, Susie barged into the room, staff in her hand and ready to cast a bolt of electricity to anything that moved. Much to her relief, there was no need for it; the room was empty.

A large wooden table, placed exactly at the centre of the room, carried the weight of a bunch of unrefined Lumina Crystals along with an old set of carving tools. An empty chair was placed behind it, and whoever had been sitting on it earlier, didn't bother to push it back under the table. The window was wide open and ragged, black curtains flapped at the mercy of the wind. Outside, the sun was setting on Triton Avenue, tinting the cloudy sky in shades of orange.

"Someone was held hostage here," Artur said, eyeing a set of heavy chains dangling off the wall.

Susie made her way to them, her. And slowly reached out with her hand to touch the cold metal. A static shock running through her fingers made her withdraw immediately, her hand now trembling as if the magic she had focused in it had been drained dry. "They're enchanted to dissipate Storm Magic… Oh, and these…" She inspected the wall and floor more closely, noticing weird patterns resembling ancient runes. "Myth too, uh?"

Artur stepped back, putting as much distance as possible between the chains and himself. "So the prisoner…"

"Indeed. It was someone who relied on both Storm and Myth, probably Malcolm StormHeart."

Artur grinned. "We hit the jackpot, sis, now the city council won't have much choice but agree with us and help find the Harvest Lord."

Susie chuckled. "Indeed. And they were so sure that Malistaire had taken Malcolm away to Aquila…"

She paced around the room, looking at anything else that could be used as proof to sway the council. She didn't like to be made fun of, and while she was sure that Malistaire was plotting revenge on Wizard City, most people believed the rumors which told that the Necromancer was biding his time in Aquila, attempting to put his hands on the secrets of the Immortals. Only Ambrose supported her theory. Him and Paul Stormheart, Malcolm's younger brother, and an important member of the council.

Of course, she knew all about the rivalry between the Stormhearts and Fireblades, and how people said that if one had an opinion, then the other would surely think it was wrong. The Malistaire problem was exactly the same; whereas Mr. Stormheart actively fought for a defensive policy, strengthening up the wards and waiting for Malistaire to make the wrong move, Mr. Fireblade was convinced that it was for the best to make the first move, stopping the former Death Professor before he could brew up trouble in other worlds.

Mr. Fireblade was well liked, so it was no surprise that the council ended up voting for his strategy, but that left the city with few defenses. The Professors and a few graduates were the only people defending the city now, coupled with students who, upon Ambrose's orders, took care of the less important matters.

"I found something!" Artur shook Susie from her thoughts. She approached him, curious to see what her ever-observant brother had found out. It had always been like that, her brother paid attention to detail, and she put it all together, making them resemble a small, effective detective squad.

A small note, written in magnificent penmanship was left abandoned on the table. She picked it up and read it. As her eyes skimmed down the lines, it was clear that it contained orders, orders written by Malistaire himself.

Her blood ran cold and Artur, who read the letter along with her, let out a gasp. They crossed their gazes, the same horror that risked overwhelming her was written all over her brother's face.

"Artur, call Ambrose. I'll get there and warn them!" She exclaimed, making a run for the staircase, hoping with all her heart to make it in time.

* * *

 _ **Fragment of a Wish**_

* * *

"So, any explanation why you freaked out at my great-uncle Robert? He's not that bad!" Kane smirked after he had taken Shard all the way to his room. The living room was too far away to reach it with his friend in such a state and he couldn't risk falling down the stairs.

"I-I… know him…"

"That's impossible, Shard. He died during Dragonspyre's fall." For how amusing could it be that Shard met his great-uncle, it just wasn't possible. Holy Bartleby, Kane, and Shard weren't even born when his great-uncle was still alive!

Edward Fireblade, Kane's grandfather, always had a nostalgic tone when he spoke about his younger brother, lost at a young age during the attack of the Dragon Titan. There were even times when his grandfather stopped talking, looked directly at Kane, and told him that he did, in fact, resemble Robert greatly.

Kane never gave it much thought, his grandfather was known in Firecat Alley for stopping random people in the street and telling them they resembled his long-lost Dragonspyrean relatives. It also happened once or twice that he forgot where he lived and managed to make his way to Polaris before anyone managed to find him. The Tsarina wasn't very happy to find him, lost and confused, haunting the halls of her palace like a senile ghost, proclaiming him guilty of trespassing into the royal chambers and sentencing him to death. Luckily, Ambrose had managed to avoid the worst, spoke to the Tsarina himself, and got the elder Fireblade back before he was executed.

"I think…I-I will rest for a bit…" Shard muttered, his eyelids closing and his face relaxing.

Kane wasn't one to stare at people for long, he always found himself distracted by something else far more interesting, but even he could notice that Shard was paler than usual, sickly. Kane couldn't help but notice that his friend had changed recently. Since Shard had come back from Unicorn Way, a determined gaze had replaced his once meek and scared behavior.

Kane remembered all too well when he had decided to show him around the city. Shard had looked pretty much scared, facing off Alex in the bookstore without daring to talk back. It was mostly because of his fish-out-of-water attitude that Kane had helped, ending up becoming friends. Despite it all, it wasn't like Kane understood much of black cats or Malistaire's plans, being in it mostly for the opportunity of facing off against evil as battlemages of old.

"I leave you alone for half an hour…" Flint said, entering the room in hurry with Emer and Rose tagging along. "What happened?"

Quickly, the tree of them gave a brief explanation of what had happened, telling Flint how Shard had looked at the portrait and had fallen to his knees, holding his head, and finally fainting. As they talked they sent glances from time to time to the sleeping boy, almost as if they expected him to suddenly stop breathing.

"Kane, you know that you shouldn't rummage in the attic," Flint said, giving his brother a stern look. Without waiting for a reply, Flint brandished his wand and made his way to the bed. Soft mutterings and few swishes were enough for the magic to leave a trail after the wand's tip and weave a complex web of spells. Magical energy glowed and lingered around Shard, shifting and reacting at each word the boy pronounced. A last, final flick, and the magical energy was suddenly gone. Flint righted himself up and at their questioning glances, he merely answered, "He just needs rest."

"What did you do?" Emer asked, moving out of the way to let Flint pass.

"Just checked if there were any curses."

"Curses?"

"Of course, we do not know what could be up there," Flint replied with a shrug. "Well, at least nothing serious happened. I was prepared for something far worse, honestly."

A sudden knocking at the door echoed through the house and everyone shifted their attention to it. Leaving Rose and Emer behind, Kane followed Flint downstairs, wondering who could it be at such an hour. Surely they weren't his parents, their knocking wasn't that desperate.

Flint's eyes widened when he opened the wooden door. On the other side, hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath, stood a girl dressed in the Storm School robes.

"Susie, What are you-" Flint's question was cut short.

"Is your father home?! It's an emergency!"

"No, he's not. What's the matter?"

Susie righted herself and replied in panic, her words making both the Fireblade boys' eyes widen in horror. "The Harvest Lord… We found his hideout, but he wasn't there… We found some orders… The Fireglobe theatre is their next target!"

* * *

 _ **Fragment of a Wish**_

* * *

Martin and Victoria Fireblade climbed a set of stairs and took their seats on the upper floor of the Fireglobe theatre. Alicane, the king of the fire elves, always reserved the best seats for them; a simple favor, given their long-lasting friendship.

It felt as if it was but a few years back when Martin and the elven prince brewed up trouble in the alley, targeting innocent passersby with their latest prank. The former elven king's lectures still echoed in Martin's mind. The raspy, strict voice that insisted on them behaving in such a way befitting of their status, and yelled them into punishment whenever they promptly ignored it.

Quite some time had passed since his youthful days, but despite the many changes in their lives, Martin's friendship with Alicane stood strong. Now, with Alicane as the elven king and Martin in the City Council, they made sure to keep order in Firecat Alley, as well as protecting Wizard City from outside threats.

"Weren't you a bit harsh earlier? Calling Kane's friends trouble magnets…" Victoria asked.

He sighed, tired of repeating the same things to his wife all over again. They had had a discussion on their way to the theatre, but apparently, she had yet to give up on her argument.

"Two of them found themselves in two major incidents because of an unlucky series of events... The third one, on the other hand, managed to become the general of Cyclops lane without even trying. Do you really want to tell me that they are just a bunch of unlucky students?"

"Oh, for Bartleby's sake! They were just accidents!"

"Accidents, really? There is no such thing as accidents in the Spiral, everything happens for a reason."

"Again with Ambrose's theory-"

"A theory which we better keep in mind."

Victoria didn't reply, and shifted her gaze to the red curtains on stage. Drawn completely shut, they covered the busy back and forth of actors, preparing for their next performance. It was fairly possible that If one were to draw them open abruptly, the fire elves, startled halfway through their preparation, would dismiss the performance entirely to punish the transgressor.

The Fire elves of Fire Cat Alley were a jealous lot, keeping their own special kind of fire magic a secret. Probably only the headmaster knew the spells they used to create such dynamic special effects, a great selling point in their plays.

"He's got an eye on them, doesn't he?" Victoria broke the silence with her whisper.

"Who? The headmaster? He keeps an eye on most stuff, yes."

She squeezed his arm. "You know what I mean…"

Martin smirked. "Ambrose keeps even the council in the dark from time to time, but I assure you, he won't put them in danger. He has always been considerate of his students, remember?"

"How could I forget…" she mumbled, rolling her eyes.

The light of the torches, placed all around the theatre to illuminate the stands, slowly started to fade. The stage, brightening up as the curtains slowly disclosed. The whispers from the crowd left their place to an attentive silence, filled with expectation.

Alicane Swiftarrow, walked forth; his duty as the elven king was to introduce the audience to the act, and bowing to the applauding audience, he did so. Two cannons, made of heavy iron, were brought on stage by other fire elves. Mr. Fireblade's chest swelled with excitement at the sight. It was well known that the elven fireworks were the best Wizard City had to offer and they were always a sight to behold.

"Welcome, Ladies and gentlemen, at out humble performance..."

Mr. Fireblade didn't listen to of Alicane's speech. It was mostly the same every time, and an ancient tradition of the elves, something which, regardless of entertainment, had to be done. His gaze was instead fixed on the stage, an uncomfortable feeling coiled in his gut.

Pyromancers were taught not to dismiss such feelings. Fire Magic worked on an emotional level, and gut feelings were more often than not, a warning to the wizard even though, more often than not, they didn't make any sense at all. And so, Martin Fireblade's gaze lingered, looking for the source of his discomfort.

Cannons. They were ready to shoot and aimed upwards, charged with enough Fire magic to last for the entirety of the show. Elves, stood beyond them, absent eyes as they smiled to the crowd. Something was extremely wrong in their empty gazes.

Alicane himself, despite his animated body language, hadn't even spared a glance their way, despite knowing that they were coming that night. Acting on a whim, Martin focused his magic in his eyes and cast a silent detection spell, trying to get a better view of the stage. He wasn't sure what he was looking for himself, but it was fairly possible that there was some magical interference that was interacting with his own magic, perhaps stemming from the cannons themselves, resulting in his unease.

Strings.

Strings as thin as fishing lines departed from the king's hands, legs, and head. They were pulled and released with mastery, and each movement of the strings, corresponded to a movement of Alicane's own body. A foul magic radiated from the strings, unnoticed among the countless traces of magic lingering in the theatre. Alicane Swiftarrow, robbed of his free will, was but a puppet, dancing on the whims of a hidden puppet master. Horrified, Martin's gaze followed the strings, and finally, he saw her.

A purple dress, torn at the bottom, covered the banshee as she floated above the elves, her form, hidden behind concealment charms. Chains bound her body, kept in place by the huge lock, dangling like an overly large pendant on her chest.

Her hair, of a dim grey, stood upright, looking like it too had been affected by the terrible screams of the banshees. Locks of hair descended down on stage, enchanted with magic, and concealed from sight, looking almost like spider silk. It was too late when Martin realized that it was her hair that thinned until it became as thin as string, binding the elves and the cannons and moving them as the banshee pleased.

"Without further ado, my prized audience, let your final act begin!" Alicane Swiftarrow said, his eyes blank and an unnatural smile stretching on his elegant features.

Martin stood up, one hand looking for his wand as the other gripped his wife's arm. Locking gazes with the banshee, he saw her horrifying grin, the grin of someone who had just won.

Her hair twisted and writhed like ropes, and shoved the fire elves like sacks of potatoes, her pretense now over. The cannons shifted targets, aiming straight to the audience. Someone screamed in fear and a few wizards stood up to defend themselves, but unfortunately, it was too late.

That night, a loud boom echoed in Firecat Alley.

* * *

 _ **Fragment of a Wish**_

* * *

Cobblestone thumping under his shoes, much like how his heart thumped in his throat, Kane ran. Flint was faster than him, sprinting with Susie in tow through the deserted street. Turning the corner, Kane saw the Fireglobe.

The building stood at the end of the street, its round shape, and wooden walls just as imposing as Kane remembered them. No light came from the windows, the play had probably already started.

Kane slowed his run to a walk, catching his breath. "We're on-" He didn't even have time to finish the sentence that a loud boom echoed in the street. A blinding light came out of the Fireglobe, and fireworks of elven make came out of the windows, shifting into the huge shapes of dragons, phoenixes, and helephants. Kane closed his eyes shut, unable to bear the sudden luminosity. His nostrils were tickled by the pungent smell of smoke and screams forcefully invaded his ears.

"Time…" Kane finished, looking as the Fireglobe, proud and joy of Firecat Alley, crumbled down under the wrath of flames. The sturdy elven wood, cut down directly from the burning trees of Avalon, was mercilessly consumed by the wildfire. Part of the third floor had instantly given in, unable to sustain the weight once the wooden pillars collapsed.

Flint and Susie stopped in their tracks, jaws agape and eyes fixed at the Fireglobe in shock. A voice, coming from a nearby house, echoed in the night. "The Fireglobe burns! Somebody call help!"

That was enough for Kane to recover from his daze. He made a tentative step forward, looking at the tongues of flames licking at the building. "Mom… Dad…" Soon enough, his single step became two, and then three, and in no time he was running, running towards the building. He didn't have a plan. He didn't even have a wand. Kane just wanted to get in there and try to save them. There was no way that his parents could have died like that, was there?

A firm grip took hold of his arm, making him stumble forward. Kane pulled and pulled, attempting to get free. He didn't even process who it was that kept him from getting to the theatre, the voice of his older brother sounding distant and fading in the screams.

"We have to save them!" he shouted, wriggling his arm in his continuous attempts at getting free.

"Kane, listen to me! There is no point in getting in there and die!"

"But we have to…"

"I know… but we can't…" Flint held tight to his shoulder, half embracing him and half preventing him from dashing into a mad charge.

People flooded the street, exiting their homes or teleporting nearby, each of them eyeing the theatre with the same, helpless expression painted on their faces. A few Pyromancers, attempted spells and complex incantations, trying to put the fire out. The flames fed on their incantations, their magic, nothing more than fuel to the hungry force that devoured everything it touched.

The entirety of the third floor had crumbled down in its entirety, no screams came from the Fireglobe anymore. Kane was seriously taking into consideration kicking his brother and making a run for it, but even he could understand that there wasn't much he could have done.

"It's them! They survived!" Flint shouted, pointing at the entrance door. People, faces dirtied by smoke and fear in their eyes, came out of the theatre, enveloped in fire wards. Kane widened his eyes in surprise as there was only one person he had seen creating such a powerful, flaming shield. His father, wand in hand, came out of the building, escorting a small number of people with him. Kane's mother used spells of her own to scatter the flames and make it possible for them to have safe passage.

As soon as they got out, Martin Fireblade lowered his wand. As if that very same gesture was supporting the theatre itself, the flames intensified and the building crumbled to a bunch of debris. The familiar flashes of people teleporting could be seen all around them. Wizards, coming from all over the city, focused their efforts to douse the flames and even though slowly, they eventually succeeded.

Kane didn't care as much about the fire as he wanted to know if his parents were okay. Zigzagging through the crowd, he made his way to his father.

"Dad, Mom, are you alright?!" he asked, literally lunging to embrace them in a hug.

His parents returned the embrace, a slight tremble in their arms. "We are fine, Kane, don't worry."

"But… what happened?! The theatre went boom! Are there other people inside? Aren't there usually more people at the plays?! Are they… fine?" Kane had freed himself from the hug, and slowly his eyes surveyed the small crowd that had been saved.

"My daughter! Where is my daughter?!" An old lady was screaming, trying to surpass a bunch of wizards who stood in front of the theatre to avoid people from approaching it. Kane's eyes widening in realization as he glanced back to his parents, their eyes not daring to cross his own. There were indeed more than a few dozens of people at that play.

Kane faltered, his thoughts tangled in a mess. The memory of a person who he had come to consider as part of the family, was conjured up as if gods themselves were mocking him. A person who he hadn't seen coming out of the theatre. A person who always gave him presents whenever he came to visit, joking on the fact that Kane had become way taller than him.

"What happened to King Alicane?" That question was met with his mother hugging him in a tight embrace, not letting him go as she whispered comforting words in his ear. Words that sounded way too distant and unbelievable to Kane, since such words could only mean one thing.

His father looked at him in the eye and Kane could see his indecision on whether or not to talk. The young Pyromancer, then knew. He knew that something terrible had just happened, something he didn't even dare to consider.

"They will tell us later, Kane. Right now, there is someone else who needs to talk to them," Flint said, dragging his brother away from his mother's arms.

"But-"

"Let's go home for now."

Kane had just the time to turn around one last time to see none other than Merle Ambrose, approaching his parents with a grave grimace. Empty-headed, and in denial, Kane didn't offer any resistance as Flint guided through the street, a hand firmly placed on his shoulder. Then the two brothers turned the corner, and the theatre was finally out of sight.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Tried to give a slightly different spin on the banshee's curse of the main storyline with the banshee actively involved in the entire ordeal instead of being a sitting duck in her tower.**

 **It took quite some work to have this one ready within two weeks… kept staring at a blank page for quite a while, lol. Next chapter might feature a very needed conversation between the adults, an important decision involving a certain potion, and finally, a dive into the past... or maybe something else entirely, who knows?**

 **I'm not sure when chapter 27 will be out, two weeks would be the ideal, but I can't promise it at the moment. With lots of stuff going on in real life, and yet again losing inspiration, it might take a while… Seriously, tried to start writing next chapter but as of now… nada. April will be the end of me. XD**

 **As always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, and I sincerely thank all of those who stuck with me until now. I can't really say that this story is popular or anything, (Seriously there is like 15 people in total reading this XD) but each one of you is awesome. Thank you for the support!**

 **I'll see you when I'll get around to post next chapter! :D**


	27. Myths, Truths, and Memories

**Hey there! I'm finally back with the next chapter! Between writer's block and little time to even try writing anything at all I ended up not being able to update anytime sooner. In an attempt to make it up to you, this chapter is extra-long! Enjoy. :D**

 **I do not own Wizard101 nor its characters, only my OCs.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 27 – Myths, Truths, and Memories**_

* * *

"Three wards down. Malistaire's plan is clear, he will try to come back." Martin's voice carried through the room all his rage, his hand gripping the wooden side of the table with such strength that his knuckles had gone white. Soot stained his face and clothes, and the acrid smell of smoke stuck to him like a curse.

"Alas, that seems to be the case." Headmaster Ambrose sat at the other side of the table wearing an indecipherable expression like a worn-out hat.

The crackling of fire filled the silence that came between the wizards. Shadows flickered against the weaponry-filled walls of Martin's Fireblade's living room as the flames from the two fireplaces trembled in response to the Pyromancer's emotions.

"I can't believe it… he… he was in Aquila! No wizard other than him could have raised all those undead."

"Perhaps we were mistaken on his aims. The Immortals are hardly defenseless even against powerful wizards such as Malistaire." Ambrose adjusted his monocle and let out a tired sigh. "Perhaps he was not after the secrets of Immortality as we thought at first, but it was only a way to keep our focus away from his true objective."

Martin gritted his teeth and exclaimed, "The disaster in Aquila was a diversion?! Many innocents died because of it!" A soft pressure on his shoulder reminded Martin to rein his temper in. Glancing to his right, he took sight of his wife, who gave him a significant look. She never liked when he lost his temper and started shouting.

Martin took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Everything had just happened too fast; one second he was enjoying a perfectly normal evening at the theatre and the next Alicane was dead, the Fireglobe was in ruins, and yet another of the city's wards was dispelled. It didn't take long for him to organize an emergency meeting with the professors in his house. After all, they were the wizards who had managed to put up the wards in the first place and the only way to assess the gravity of the situation.

It was a hard thing for him to do. Even now, surrounded by the professors and attempting to piece together what had just happened, Martin wanted nothing more than to leave. The banshee had escaped… his first instinct was to search the city himself in hope of finding her and defeat her once and for all. He wanted to get rid of the problem, not close himself up in a room to talk about it for hours.

"They were clearly diversions, even with all those casualties. He probably went all out so that we couldn't easily ignore his actions." The one who spoke was none other than Cyrus Drake, Malistaire's brother and professor of Myth magic. His glare, traveled across the room, eyeing the dragon-themed decoration with mild disgust.

"So even you are convinced he is trying to come back to Wizard City? Is there anything he might be looking for?" Martin asked, his gaze so focused on Professor Drake that it was a miracle that he didn't dig a hole in his bald head.

"He might, but then he might not… My brother is a rather unpredictable individual and even I have no idea of what he might be aiming for."

"Of course, even if you knew, you wouldn't tell us anything." Diego, the Duelmaster, said getting up from his seat. Everyone widened their eyes, unable to react in time before Diego unsheathed his sword, and the blade hissed mid-air, stopping at mere inches from Professor Drake's throat.

The Myth teacher's scowl deepened as he slowly raised his wand. "You really are a fool if you believe I would support my brother in his madness."

"Right, yet you aren't able to tell us what he is doing out there, nor what he is looking for! He certainly would have told you something-"

"Did you cut off a good chunk of your brain by accident while waving that toothpick of yours? Malistaire hasn't confided in me in a long time, not since Sylvia died!"

"Oh dear," Professor Greyrose said. Her wings buzzed in annoyance as he eyes lay fixed on the two members of Ravenwood's faculty, ready to stop the conflict before it escalated any further. Despite her small stature, which forced her to sit on an unstable tower of pillows placed on top of the chair just to take part in the conversation, her presence was imposing. Not even a movement of her wand was needed for the room's temperature to drop by several degrees.

Both Professor Drake and Diego noticed this, and reluctantly, lowered their weapons. peace returned to the room and Martin found took a breath of relief. If those two had been serious in their fight, they could have easily destroyed the entire building like it was nothing.

"I have no reason to doubt Cyrus's loyalty, Diego," Headmaster Ambrose said. "I trust him, just as I trust all of those present in this room."

"Thank you, headmaster," Professor Drake replied. Diego, on the other hand, seemed to mutter something under his breath before sheathing his sword and sitting down with reluctance.

"I believe we should avoid jumping to hasty conclusions and consider the facts, and quickly so, may I add. Moolinda might be an incredibly skilled Life wizard, but we shouldn't leave her alone at Ravenwood for long. Who knows whether Malistaire is going to try and take another chance at Bartleby. It is time for Martin to fill us in on what happened at the theatre." Ambrose nodded slightly towards Martin, prompting him to speak up.

Martin inhaled, closing his eyes as memories, clear as day, swam in front of his eyes. Opening them again, he began. "Alicane and the other fire elves were controlled by a banshee... their movements weren't theirs. She was above them, cloaked in an invisibility spell and using her hair as puppet-strings. For what I know, they could have actually been already dead even before the play started. She fired the cannons and the theatre was destroyed. I haven't seen what she did after that, but I'm sure she took advantage of the mess to completely destroy the ward. I was too busy saving as many people as possible to look… for the fire elves, it was already too late..."

"There is only one Banshee capable of such a feat. As I feared, Bastilla is involved," Headmaster Ambrose said. The name resonated in the room like a curse.

Now that he could give a name to the new threat, Martin's rage stirred once more in his chest. His hands twitched at the thought of tracking her and rain destruction down upon her. "Headmaster, do you know this… creature?"

"I do. I knew her even before she became what she is now. She was once a young, talented architect with no aptitude for magic. Bastilla was there when Firecat Alley was founded and she helped with the construction of the buildings. Wizard City was meant to be the start of a new life for her, but alas, it was not meant to be. There was an accident on the job, and she died, crushed under the weight of an unstable tower. She haunted the place ever since, jealous and bitter of those in the realm of the living."

"And how dangerous is she?" Madame Falmea, who had been sitting silently on her seat asked. A hint of worry made her voice tremble ever so slightly, but she remained firm and in control despite the Banshee had just targeted her kin.

"Very dangerous. Malistaire himself had to take care of her in the past. I thought he had helped her to pass onwards to the other side, but it seems I was mistaken and he is now using her for his aims."

"How do you propose we track her down? Are there any places in particular she haunts? I will have the pleasure of destroying her myself." Martin's smile as he said those words must have looked eerie to the professors, who didn't dare to cross his gaze.

The headmaster was the only one who interrupted the silence, clearing his throat and adjusting his monocle. "I'm afraid she isn't the only problem. I would rather have everyone hear this story directly from Susie, so she can fill you in on what we believe has been happening in the background."

Martin nodded. Headmaster Ambrose was right. Whereas the council usually kept such happenings to themselves, telling the professors of Ravenwood was a good idea. They were the best in their respective schools after all, and while their job was to teach new generations, they never hesitated to help out in times of need.

"I'm curious about it myself, Susie, please come closer and tell us what happened." Professor Balestrom said. The small frog had completely forgone the chair and decided to stand up at the border of the table instead.

Susie Gryphonbane, who had been waiting for her turn to speak, walked forth from the corner. She had been standing aside, as attentive as a novice witnessing Balestrom casting a Stormzilla. Flint was beside her, nearly not as focused as he should have been during such a conversation, his eyes not really focusing anywhere.

Martin wondered whether his current expression held any resemblance to that of his eldest son. Alicane's death... it had surely been a heavy blow for everyone in the family, the elf was basically the uncle his children never had. Martin still wasn't sure if it was for the best for Flint to participate in the discussion at all, but as an Adept at Ravenwood, he was considered powerful and responsible enough to do so. Adepts already risked their lives when they headed to other worlds for dangerous quests, there was no reason to hide things from them.

As lost as Martin was in his thoughts, he almost didn't notice Susie's awkward walk as she approached the professors, almost stumbling on the carpet. Flint gave her a thumbs up and an encouraging smile and Susie nervously smiled back. The girl, trembling slightly under the gazes of the older wizards, gripped her staff firmly and began her story in shaky, and unsure voice.

"A-Artur and I… we were... following a lead. The Harvest Lord, you know… he was the one behind the attacks on Triton Avenue."

"Come on girl spit it out, we all know about the Harvest Lord's evil-doings," Professor Drake scoffed, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

Susie whimpered at the harsh words and started stuttering. "I-I… y-yes s-sir!"

Martin sat down again, trying to keep himself still, telling himself that her information might have been vital. It wasn't easy, Alicane was dead… dead and the killer was free, ready to wreak havoc again in the future. No, he had to focus. No matter how he felt, his job as a councilor was to protect the city, and if Susie indeed had groundbreaking information he had to listen. The headmaster himself was eager to hear what she knew, leaning forward in anticipation.

Susie Gryphonbane, an extremely talented Diviner with a keen interest in mystery. Her exploits with her younger brother were well-known even outside of Ravenwood. The headmaster usually sent her whenever trouble arose in Wizard City, though she was also sent to other worlds from time to time. Ambrose had surely asked her help investigating the recent happenings, and Martin remembered seeing her, alongside a rather grumpy Death student, walking around Triton Avenue with her inseparable notebook.

Despite her smarts and talent with magic, though, the girl seemed to have one fatal weakness; she was terrible at speaking to many people at once. The situation was getting awkward very fast, with the poor girl stuttering on her own words under the terrifying glare of Professor Drake.

"Now, now, don't worry about Professor Drake Susie, tell us what you have discovered!" The one who talked was none other than Halston Balestrom, who took great pride in his young pupil.

Susie nodded, gripped her staff tighter in nervousness and continued her explanation determinately avoiding the Myth professor's eyes. "I-I thought M-Malistaire wanted to attack the city so I started investigating on the p-patterns of local undead attacks… ignoring whatever news came from other worlds."

Martin nodded. He remembered the first time Susie had tried to speak her mind after reporting in great detail the raid on the Four Falls Mills. Unfortunately, at the time, the city council was receiving alarming news from a multitude of worlds and nobody listened to the fourteen-year-old Diviner. Undead rose and attacked settlements, world doors were destroyed, people vanished without any trace. In light of such happenings, and due to all worlds blaming Wizard City for not keeping tabs on such a dangerous man, those problems had taken priority.

Susie produced a small notebook from her pocket and cleared her throat, maybe finding some of her confidence again after holding tight to something familiar to her. "I-In sh-short, this is what I discovered from the i-investigations… A powerful undead, taking the form of a scarecrow… h-he suddenly appeared after Malistaire left the city."

She turned the page and showed a rough sketch of a scarecrow. "He calls himself the Harvest Lord, and his movements were always shrouded in mystery. That is until recently… well relatively recently… maybe not very much so…"

"Go on, Susie," Professor Greyrose interrupted Susie's inconclusive mutterings.

"S-sure. As I said, recently… the Harvest Lord grew bolder, and along with a bunch of ghouls raided the Four Falls Mills on the 6th of September. Luckily, the Mills weren't damaged, but a huge amount of Lumina Crystals were stolen."

Martin Fireblade fidgeted in his seat, trying to understand why the child was stressing over something which happened a month before. Susie, ignorant of his growing impatience went on, a bit more confident in herself as she talked. "Artur, Duncan, and I were tasked with tracking down the Harvest Lord by Headmaster Ambrose. At the time, we thought he was just another undead haunting the city… there are many of them so we didn't focus too much on him, but we soon found out that it wasn't like that."

Her hold on her notebook was too tight for comfort as she almost crushed it in her attempt to keep her nervousness at bay. "He is smart, cunning, and skilled in magic, managing to always be one step ahead of us. At one point, he even purposely lured Artur into a trap… I am not sure what he wanted to do with him, but I suspect he wanted to use his Storm magic for something…"

"Let's keep it close to the facts, Gryphonbane," Professor Drake cut in.

Susie winced and without daring to cross eyes with the Myth professor, continuer, "F-fine. We managed to save Artur, and for a little while, there weren't any more sightings. That is until September the 12th."

"Wasn't that when Malcolm was kidnapped?" Professor Balestrom asked.

"Yes, sir. I believe that the mysterious kidnapper was none other than the Harvest Lord."

"Any proof of such a claim?" Professor Drake furrowed his brows.

"These medallions were found on the scene," Susie took out an iron medallion from her pocket for them to see. It definitely wasn't meant to be an article of jewelry. Its shape was deformed, and the taste horrible with uncut fragments of a purple Lumina Crystals nestled in it.

"S-Since there is no way to make these without L-Lumina Crystals, I deduced Malcolm Stormheart was kidnapped by the Harvest Lord."

Martin sighed, it felt very much like a déjà vù. "And I remember that the Headmaster brought this up at the Council Meeting. Malcolm Stormheart is a rather important individual nonetheless, but at the same time, trouble started to brew up in Aquila and the more capable wizards were dispatched there."

"Is it true what they say? All of the ghosts of Tartarus…" Professor Falmea asked.

"Went rogue, yes. That is why most wizards are currently over there. Hades himself refuses to leave his chambers and do anything about it. He says that he shouldn't meddle in the affairs of Death. The nearby towns have turned into battlefields."

"That's… terrible."

"For how terrible it is, we need to look at the big picture," Headmaster Ambrose insisted.

All eyes turned back to the girl who visibly squirmed in her place. She slowly lifted her eyes and locked them with Martin, a spark of pure determination igniting them. "T-The council didn't take the m-matter s-seriously… Y-you s-said that the Harvest Lord is just a lone scarecrow… Even if it worked for Malistaire it can't do much…"

"We assumed the Headmaster could deal with the matter directly. Students shouldn't have any problem with low ranked undead," Martin answered. He knew that having students fighting ghosts wasn't the optimal solution, but for everyone's sake, they couldn't just withdraw in the city and not help other worlds.

"And that was where we went wrong, very wrong," Ambrose said. "It took some time to examine the Medallions, but now I can speak for certain when I say that these are no light matter. The medallions give the undead the power to cast Storm Magic."

"Storm Magic you say? But that's… impossible!"

"It is not impossible. There are precedents of Mastery Amulets, which enable the user to use other schools of magic."

"So… the Harvest Lord… managed to mass produce such items?!"

"Yes and no. These medallions are but mere imitations of true Mastery Amulets and their power is limited. Regardless, we will face stronger undead than usual."

"We will have to seek them out and destroy them before they can do anything else. It's not like Malistaire himself is here to command them," Martin suggested.

"It's not that easy!" Susie burst out, and only realized her rudeness once the words escaped her mouth, shutting up on the spot and diverting her eyes.

Martin blinked, eyeing the girl with renewed interest. Perhaps she wasn't as hopeless as he thought at first. "What is it?"

"Well…" Susie fumbled for a few seconds and turned through the pages of her notebook. "T-they are extremely organized for being undead and they can disappear when they feel threatened."

"Explain."

"They can open portals to an unknown place!" she exclaimed, words leaving her mouth fast as if she was afraid they'd interrupt her. "Everyone who saw them opening one swore that it resembled a dark street, with no moon or stars in the sky. I-I think I know the place." she placed a small letter on the table, written in enviable penmanship.

A quick skim through its contents and Martin knew that the situation was serious. The plan to assassinate Alicane laid bare in front of him. In the small letter, there were mentions of dangerous individuals such as Rattlebones, his fairy queen, and Bastilla, confirming once and for all that the undead problems which recently happened in the city were all connected. Something more peaked his interest and he widened his eyes in surprise.

"The Sunken City… He says to go back to the Sunken city once the job is done… They are gathering an army!"

Professor Drake tore the letter from Martin's hands. "The Sunken City?! It's not possible! Such a place doesn't exist! It's just a Myth, just like the Grub!"

Martin was visibly shaken by the revelation, as everyone in the room. How could they hope to find such a place, which appeared only in legends?! Not even the headmaster had ever managed to find it.

Martin stood up, his anger manifesting itself in the flickering of the flames in the fireplace as he spoke. "In short, The Harvest Lord, Rattlebones, Bastilla, and possibly the Grub, have all joined forces to destroy wizard City. They are gathering in the Sunken City and slowly breaking down the wards which protect us all. I am going to relay it to the City Council, and call back wizards from other worlds as fast as possible."

"That may be wise." The headmaster commented. "Cyrus and I will try to look for The Sunken City once again, though I do not have high hopes for our success."

With that Martin went for the door to leave, but just before he opened it, he heard quick footsteps running down the corridor and up the stairs. It came to him there and then that Kane had heard every word. "That boy… troublemaker to the end," he muttered, deciding to leave him be for the time being. It was his fault, after all, of being so taken by his own thoughts to have forgotten to put in place wards to avoid being overheard.

* * *

 _ **Fragment of a Wish**_

* * *

That place… he had been there… long ago. Maybe in another time, maybe in another life.

A single stone bridge connected one side of the trench to the other, a direct pathway which passed among countless enormous crystals. Dragonspyre really delivered when it came to tourist attractions and the rumors on the magnificence of the crystal grove were truthful.

A boy, wearing Dragonspyre academy's uniform, consisting in a red military jacket complete with cape and drake-riding trousers over combat boots in dragon leather, walked forth. Shoulderpads engraved with spiral-like black symbols and the belt, full of pockets to carry around wizarding equipment, made it look like he was ready to depart for a mission at any time. His bright, red hair had probably been charmed to be spiky and coupled with the boy's red eyes, full of energy, it really made him look like a dragon in human form.

Robert Fireblade, he was called, and he had offered to show him around Dragonspyre. Robert led the way on the stone bridge, turning back from time to time to crack a joke as he showed him the best Dragonspyre had to offer.

A small, red dragon flew around Robert, using his shoulder as a perch and taking off to inspect the source of any interesting smell it noticed in the surroundings. Once or twice it tried to fly too far, but every time it would instantly fly back. Safir had never seen such a deep connection between a wizard and his familiar, and he still marveled at how Robert seemed to be able to understand perfectly whatever was going on in the dragon's head.

"And here is the Crystal Grove, quite the sight, don't you think so too, Safir?" Robert asked.

Safir eyed the crystals with vivid interest, watching in awe as his image was distorted on their shiny surface. The image of a boy with messy black hair and blue eyes smiled back at him. Dragonspyrean crystals were weird, they were almost mirror-like, and the magic cruising through them was not something even Safir could scoff at.

"It's awesome… I have never seen so many crystals all together…"

"Pretty neat, uh? Want to take a closer look?"

Safir didn't have to be told twice, adventure, was something he couldn't resist after all, especially now that he had finally broken free from them... Taking a quick glance at the surroundings, one of the larger crystals, gleaming of a pure azure color under the morning sun, caught his attention. His mouth opened up in a smirk as he pointed the enormous gem to his friend. "The last one who gets to the huge blue one is a stinky arachna!"

He barely heard Robert ask in reply, "What's an arachna?!" that he was well on his way. To get down in the grove, it was required to traverse the bridge. Since Safir was certainly slower than his athletic friend, it was vital for him to take advantage of Robert's slow reaction to such a sudden challenge. In no time, Safir got to the end of the bridge and started descending the stairs, two at a time.

"You cheater!" Robert exclaimed, producing three pips in the palm of his hand as Dorotea, sensing the imminent danger, took off to avoid getting hit. Using the bridge as a vantage point, Robert drew the Fire Symbol, and a Sun Bird, red and golden, came out of it and took flight.

"Wait, wha-?" Safir was taken by surprise as the spell clutched his shoulders with its claws and took off, taking him with it. "That's not fair, Robert! You're the cheater!"

Robert just waved him off, suppressing a laugh, and started making his way down the flight of stairs.

"No, you don't!" Safir muttered as he raised his hand to touch the Sun Bird, which was currently trying to get as high as it could. A single power pip appeared in midair due to sheer concentration and quickly dispersed once Safir silently cast his spell.

 _Quench._

The Sun Bird disappeared with a hiss as the fire which animated it was put out, leaving behind only a bunch of feathers, slowly spiraling down to the ground. Unfortunately for Safir, his fall wasn't as gracious as the feathers, and he found himself plummeting down to the ground in free fall.

Thinking on his feet, Safir began casting another spell. It was probably out of spite that he decided to outdo Robert, choosing a more advanced Fire spell. The cheeky Pyromancer had cheated just because he wasn't winning for once, it served him right. Concentrating his magic in five pips, twirling wildly around him as he gained momentum, he drew the Fire symbol. A phoenix appeared under him, ready to act as his personal mount. The magical fire of the bird embraced Safir in a hug, slowing his descent to a stop without burning him.

"Robert, I'm coming for you!" Safir shouted to the Pyromancer, who was now giving his all in a mad dash. The phoenix flew above the crystals, spiraling down to get its summoner to the ground. Robert was already zigzagging through the crystals, taking shortcuts to get to the finish line faster. There was no way Safir would have let that cheater win so easily, he was going to make the pyromancer pay dearly for that Sunbird.

As if sensing the impending danger, Robert started drawing a second, shaky Fire Symbol in the middle of the chase. Three Fire elves appeared around Robert, laughing like maniacs and unleashing a rain of arrows towards the Phoenix.

A bulging Fire shield materialized around Safir, reflecting the arrows and keeping him from harm. "I could have been hurt by that, you know?" Robert didn't reply, getting further each second Safir hesitated. "Darn it, Robert!"

The phoenix flew down, the arrows bouncing aimlessly on the shield as the huge azure crystal, set as the finish line, was closer and closer. Robert still had somewhat of an advantage though, and Safir wasn't willing to hold any punches this time. "Just a small blast, should be okay."

As if Robert had actually managed to hear him all the way from the ground, he turned, widening his eyes. The Phoenix unleashed a burst of flames as it descended upon the Pyromancer, leaving him no time to set up shields and counterattack. Safir took the chance to jump down to the ground and make a last dash for the crystal. Before he could make it though, Dorotea ambushed him out of nowhere. The small dragon had managed to curl around Safir's head in an instant and cling to it like a leprechaun with its gold.

"Get off me, you small excuse for a lizard!" Safir yelled, attempting to detach the dragon from his head so he could actually see where he was going. Dorotea's grip tightened in response, nibbling at Safir's ear, and chirping in delight as the boy yelped in protest."Ouch! Leave me alone! No! No! Not there!" Robert's laugh reached Safir from somewhere nearby. The Pyromancer had probably managed to escape the Phoenix unscathed and resumed his run towards the crystal.

"Get off!" Safir yelled one last time, focusing on his mana and summoning forth the power of Ice. Ice cruised through his body, dousing the leftovers of Fire and filling him to the brim. His body felt the strain, and a wince of pain escaped his lips. Using more than one kind of magic on the fly wasn't easy, especially switching from Fire to Ice.

Without even bothering to utter a spell, he focused his magic on his palms, and after grabbing Dorotea, made it burst forth. The poor dragon was caught unaware as it was invested by the chilling touch, releasing its grip and flying away with an acute screech.

Safir had a few seconds to spot Robert, who in the meantime had almost made it to the finish line. The Phoenix hadn't actually been extinguished, chasing after the pyromancer and blasting holes into the ground, unable to hit Robert, who just limited himself to dodge its attacks and run as fast as he could. A smirk made its way to Safir's lips as he put forth his palm. Ice spread on the ground faster than Robert could run, turning the narrow road zigzagging through the grove into a slippery surface of doom.

"Wha-? Whoa!" Robert exclaimed in surprise as his feet slipped, sending him down with a mighty thump. The Phoenix, finally getting an immobile target, blasted Robert with its flames hiding him from sight.

Safir didn't bother to look and made a run for the crystal with all the strength of his legs. With fatigued breathing and heart beating in excitement, he touched the crystal and took victory for himself.

"Wasn't the Phoenix a bit extreme?!" As the spell had vanished from the scene, cutting off its continuous blasts of fire directed at Robert, the Pyromancer had managed to cover the distance and finally arrive at the crystal.

"I have long decided that no amount of Fire Magic is ever extreme when dealing with you," Safir replied, cracking a grin.

Robert sighed and plopped down on the ground, probably a bit fatigued by the mana he had spent. "True, True, I'm just that awesome."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, fireproof boy."

"Fireproof boy? Don't even talk to me, weirdo!" Their laughs filled the air as the two boys rested beneath the great crystal, eyes lost in the many reflections of the grove.

"Oh, Dorotea, there you are!" Robert said, reaching out with his arm at the approaching dragon, and letting it rest on it as if it were perch."What happened to you? I told you to stick to Safir like glue!"

Dorotea turned to Safir and hissed. It probably attempted to spit fire on him, but it ended up choking on it and coughing out puffs of smoke. "There, there, it's okay. You'll manage to spit fire someday." Robert laughed scratching Dorotea on the neck as it cooed in contentment.

"Come on, don't give me that face," Safir said, as his attempt at petting the dragon was instantly rejected with a hiss.

"Aww, you upset her!" Robert's grin did nothing to hide his amusement. "Now she will try to eat you in your sleep… Good girl!"

"I'm right here, you know?" Safir snorted, attempting to approach the pet slowly to make it up to it."And it was your idea to have her try to choke me!"

"True," Robert chuckled, making it even harder for Safir to approach his pet by hugging it tight like some kind of scaly stuffed animal.

"Alright… time for plan B!" Safir rummaged in his bag and found what he was looking for. A small pack of chips rested now in his hands and Dorotea did a double take in surprise. "Yes, you know you want them. Come and get them," Safir offered, shaking the pack under the drooling pet.

"It won't work. A mere pack of chips won't get between Dorotea and me! You can't buy her! Our love is too pure!" Robert's hug around his pet tightened, although Dorotea herself, seemed to be utterly uninterested in anything but food.

"Wanna bet? And these are no mere chips, they're Spicy Chips, ranked as a rank six pet snack by the inter-spiral snack association!" It only took for Safir to pop open the pack, letting the spicy aroma spread in the air, for Dorotea's pupils to enlarge and her tongue to stick in and out of her mouth like crazy.

"Umpf." Whatever Robert was about to say was cut short by the pet's paw, which pushed his face away as it slithered out of the embrace and shove its face right into the snack pack.

"Awww, poor Robert got rejected!"

"Shut up, I'm not talking to homewreckers!"

It didn't take long for Dorotea to eat all the chips, and the chirping noises of satisfaction, followed by the gentle nibbling of his fingers, informed Safir that Dorotea had finally forgiven him.

A few minutes passed before either of them talked. Robert was the first to break the ice,"You know, I never really thanked you for saving me back there, those werewolves were nasty."

"No reason to thank me, it was you who actually saved me. I was utterly lost in the middle of nowhere and stumbled upon you by chance."

"Yeah, how come you found yourself in Darkmoor of all places?!"

"As I said, utterly lost."

"You won't stay long, will you?" Robert said, leaning against the huge crystal as Dorotea walked back to his lap licking her mouth in satisfaction.

"No, I thank you for your hospitality, but I have to keep looking."

"I see... No chance you'll ever tell me what you're looking for, right?"

Safir hugged his knees and relaxed in a mischievous smirk,"nope."

"And here I thought you would actually enroll at the Academy… You're like… ultra powerful!"

"I can't... and well, don't really want to. Something big is about to happen, and I should be on my way..."

"Something big? Sounds fun! Can you see the future?"

"I can't actually see it… it's more like I can hear it..."

Robert tilted his head in confusion and put a hand around his ear, perhaps in an attempt to try and listen to the future himself.

"And what does it sound like?"

Taken aback by the question, Safir took a few seconds before replying, "It's a beautiful song, the most beautiful melody I have ever heard."

"That sounds nice," Robert smiled.

"Yeah, it does sound nice... but it's fake, just a superficial beauty, attempting to cover up the many flaws of creation."

"Uh... Kind of lost you there..."

Safir didn't listen, his explanation devolving into a rant as anger bubbled into an endless pit in his stomach. "Of course, by hearing it in its entirety, nothing is off-key, everything is perfect. It keeps worlds from drifting apart and destinies to intertwine... Looking closer, you'd start to notice the discrepancies. Not everyone's fate is fair, nor does it serve other purposes than to keep the song going. Fate itself is cruel, twisting lives to its own advantage and for its unknown purposes"

"You seem to talk as if fate is a person."

"It might as well be one, the Spiral is indeed full of... weird stuff."

"I see... But even if you say that fate is cruel and all that... wouldn't fate give us a purpose? As an example... I am studying to become a battlemage. I'm fully aware that I might die on the battlefield, which sucks, but for Dragonspyre's glory, I'm willing to do it. And aren't there always prophecies for the greatest heroes? Sounds fair to me."

Safir eyed his friend in silence, weighing him down. "Whether you decide to give yourself to a greater purpose or not, should be your choice and yours alone."

As soon as he had said those words, time seemed to come to a stop. Robert, his mouth stupidly hanging open, caught in the instant before his next reply, Dorotea frozen as she was about to curl into a ball to sleep, and crystals dimming all around them.

"Are you done indulging in memories quite yet?" A voice, extremely similar to Safir's said.

An invisible hand wrapped itself around Safir's neck from behind and pulled. It pulled as if it wanted to move him, but the body didn't budge. Instead, almost as if he was shedding an old skin, Safir found himself torn from that time and place, his identity crumbling and memories fading, replaced by something different. Another child in another place.

Once he opened his eyes again, he was Safir no more.

"W-What just happened?" Shard stuttered, a stream of his own memories washing back onto him as he slowly remembered that he was Shard, an eleven-year-old novice at Ravenwood, and not Safir, a sixteen-year-old adventurous boy, angry with the universe itself.

"You saw a key moment of Safir's life." The voice clarified with a sigh, almost as if the answer was far too obvious to be told aloud.

Turning around, Shard saw him; the boy on the crystal throne mocked him with an hate-filled glare. Around them, the crystals still stood, but instead of the serene sunny day of the memories, black smoke covered the sky.

Shard backed away, remembering all too well how the last time he had faced the boy, he had ended up getting consumed by his magic. The tempting promises of power, and the price, too high for him to pay, resounded all too fresh in Shard's memory.

"You have no reason to fear me. You will accept it eventually. You can't run away from me. Everyone accepts it in the end, but it is your choice to make." For how shady and dangerous those words sounded, Shard found himself believing them. He was sure that as long as he didn't use any of the magic offered to him, he couldn't be touched.

Questions upon questions piled up as he looked at the boy. He was way too similar to Safir, and much to Shard's chagrin, he looked pretty much like an older version of himself. It was almost as if someone had taken pictures of the same person in various moments in time and had fun claiming that it really wasn't the same person. The only real difference was the eyes: Shard's eyes were a very light shade of green, while both Safir's and the other boy's eyes were of a pure, untainted blue.

"What happened to..." Shard finally said, unsure whether the boy would be willing to answer any of his queries at all."...Robert?"

"He died."

"Did he become a battlemage in the end?"

"Of course not, the entire purpose of his life was to have that very same conversation with Safir. He stalled him long enough on that world for fate to crush it underfoot."

"Stall him long enough?"

"That naive boy was far too affectionate, he eventually stopped on Dragonspyre for too long, arrogantly thinking he could go against what was already written. He died for it."

"I'm sorry for him…"

"Don't be. You will meet a similar fate soon enough after all."

"I… What?!"

"You have no idea, do you? How the threads of fate twist and bend at your very presence, desperately trying to tie a knot around your neck?"

"Listen… I have no idea what your deal with fate, prophecies, and all this magical nonsense is… just give me a straight answer."

The boy looked baffled by Shard's tone, his mouth finally deciding that it was a rather amusing response and curving in a grin. "Very well. Simply put, haven't you noticed how incidents happen around you? How, no matter what you do, you end up always in the middle of something far greater than yourself?"

Shard thought about it. There were surely an unnatural amount of incidents in his life. Of course, he promptly blamed everything on magic and the wizard's typical madness, but he couldn't lie and say that he hadn't thought about it at all.

His silence seemed to be enough of an answer for the boy, who continued, "There is a reason to that: Fate takes many forms and pushes you where it wants you. Robert…" the boy paused, almost holding back his words. "Was just one of its pawns, nothing more, nothing less."

"In my case… is it the black cat? It is tied to how I ended up in Wizard City..."

"A black cat? I knew someone who owned a black cat once."

"So I'm right?"

"No, you're just hopeless."

Shard clenched his jaw as the boy didn't say anything else. If not the black cat, then what?

"Safir might have failed to survive, but there must be a way, right? Is there something I can do?"

"No, not if you keep following the song. You are going against your own wish, Shard. That connection to the physical plane will be your undoing. To survive, the Song must stop and the connection must be severed."

"Connection… you said something similar last time too."

"You remember, I see."

"Then can you tell-"

"No. You seem to be under the false impression that I want you to survive." The boy paused again, his eyes hardening as hate burned in them in an undying flame. "That is as far from the truth as it can be."

Shard looked at the boy on the throne, who watched him as if he was nothing more than an ant. His piercing blue eyes, too bright to belong to a real person, his messy black hair covered in ashes, and his mouth curled up into a fake smile."Are you Safir?"

"No, but I will be."

The crystal grove started to fade around him, unanswered questions stuck in Shard's throat as he reached out to know more. Words echoing at the back of his mind, pulling him towards consciousness until reality kicked in.

* * *

 _ **Fragment of a Wish**_

* * *

Shard was lying on a bed in a room he could easily identify as Kane's. Posters of famous wizard duelists littered the walls, and the shelves were filled to the brim with random items, magical or not, which had somehow attracted the young Pyromancer's attention.

Dorotea, sat on top of the only wardrobe of the room, staring intently at Shard. For how much he had been unconscious, he couldn't tell, but apparently, something was happening in the corridor, judging by Emer's and Rose's excited voices.

"You were Robert's pet, weren't you?" Shard asked, not quite sure himself of the reasoning that had led him to ask something like that to the familiar. It wasn't like she could answer anything he asked. A glimmer, perhaps of acknowledgment, passed in the small dragon's eyes, replaced by the usual distrust and hissing she reserved for Shard.

After a few seconds, the door opened and Emer walked in."You're awake! Don't scare me like that." Looking at Emer, arms folded in a genuine imitation of Marianne, Shard couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm serious, I even tried some Life Magic on you to… I don't know… heal you?"

"And didn't listen when I told her that repeatedly casting healing spells specifically designed to get rid of bruises wasn't going to help out." Rose entered the room right after Emer, relief washing down on her face as she saw that Shard had woken up.

"They are the only healing spells Professor Wu taught us, okay? I wasn't sure what to do other than that…"

"I know… Still... have a little more faith in Kane's brother..."

"Faith? Those two just ran who knows where with that other girl!"

"Wait a second… What's going on?" Shard had no idea what the two girls were talking about except that they seemed worried about something.

"The Fireglobe was attacked," Rose simply said. "We don't know the details, but Kane and Flint came back a while ago and told us." Shard's expression was probably that of someone completely lost, because Rose sighed and added,"The Fireglobe is the theatre where Kane's parents went."

"Oh… Why should undead attack a theatre?"

Silence filled the room as nobody answered the question. Looking at the door, Emer clarified, "We were discussing whether to try and listen in on what they are talking about downstairs… well, Kane already is trying to anyway."

Rose shook her head and closed the door to Kane's bedroom. "We would just get busted and be in their way… Ambrose is in that room, Emer, if he doesn't want us to hear anything, we won't hear anything. It's serious business."

"Fair enough, I guess…"

It was obvious that Shard wanted nothing more than to stand up and join Kane in an attempt at getting some direct info from the adults. Even if he wanted to though, he couldn't really trust himself to stand up without feeling nauseous.

Remembering what the boy in the crystal throne had told him, Shard slowly lifted his hand to his neck as if by doing so he could touch the invisible threads that wanted him dead. Nothing had really happened in Firecat Alley until they decided to pay the place a visit. Was fate showing its hand? Was there an unwritten rule somewhere that said disaster should follow him like a shadow?

It wasn't the black cat. Well… it surely had something to do with the entire thing, but according to the boy, it wasn't the main issue. The boy also talked about a connection. Shard wasn't sure what it meant with it though, he remembered having heard something when he had lost control in Unicorn Way, but the details were fuzzy at best. What was he going to do? What was the next step to avoid ending up like Safir?

Lost as he was in his mental ramblings, he jolted once the door opened, making way for a rather flustered Kane. "My father probably knows I tried to overhear," the youngest Fireblade said, closing the door behind himself.

"You don't say… I guess we won't be able to know anything until it's official," Rose replied.

Kane ignored her and continued,"But I was able to listen to most of it." Despite his success, this wasn't the cheerful Kane who wouldn't hesitate to wave his achievements in front of them. In its place, a more serious Kane talked to them, resembling his older brother's attitude.

Rose blinked in surprise. "You did?"

Shard wasn't sure what was up with Rose's certainty of failure in anything that included Ambrose, perhaps she had tried something similar in the past and failed horribly.

"Yeah, they were talking about the king of the fire elves, Alicane... He came here sometimes and brought some presents. He… he died. It was Malistaire's doing."

"Oh, good Bartleby! I'm sorry!" Rose was shocked at the news going as far as awkwardly attempting to embrace Kane in a hug, failing miserably. Emer, on the other hand, didn't have any issue and reinforcing her position as the most touchy person in the group, and squeezed Kane to death, offering her condolences.

"It's okay, I didn't know him all that well. He just came here… sometimes." Despite Kane trying to reassure them, it was clear that it wasn't okay. Shard had no idea what kind of relationship Kane had with the king of the fire elves, but they certainly weren't only acquaintances.

"They were also talking about the city wards. They said that this is the third one which was taken down."

"Weren't those the same ones Mrs. Darkkettle talked about? She really is onto something there. Maybe we should talk to her again as soon as we can?" Emer said.

Rose shook her head, a frown appearing on her face. "We don't need to put up with her antics. I know a thing or two about the wards." When everyone eyed her in disbelief, she sighed and pointed to herself. "Hopeless Ravenwood fangirl over here, remember? I know everything about the school's founding."

Having earned their full attention, Rose started explaining, "There are six wards, each engraved in a school tower. And they are connected to an external source of magic that keeps them up and running. Other than that, the books are very vague about it. What powers each ward is something known only by the Professors."

"And we know that the Death one isn't working properly," Emer interjected.

"Exactly, and we can deduce that these sources of magic, are scattered throughout Wizard City."

Kane blinked, not really following the conversation. "Why would we deduce that?"

"Because we know that three wards are down, and strangely enough, apart from the Death School, there have been two major attacks in two different streets. Sure, the Fairegrounds and the Four Falls Mills were attacked too, but those attacks were small skirmishes at the most."

"So, you are telling me that Lady Oriel was keeping the ward up? The entire attack on Unicorn Way was to take it down?" Shard asked.

"I think so… And Alicane was the keeper of another one. If you think about it, it is weird that each street is themed after a school of magic. We can assume that the wards being there affect the place in some way."

"That does make sense… Not that I know all that much about wards," Emer agreed.

"There was also a talk on a place called… um… the drowned City or something like that. They said that all the attacks were planned from there and that there is an undead army hidden inside." Kane added.

Emer tilted her head. "How can you drown a city?"

"Maybe you meant the Sunken City?" Rose asked.

Kane snapped his fingers. "Yes, that!"

Rose shook her head, not hiding her disappointment at the revelation."But that place… it's just a Myth…"

"What does the Myth say?" Shard asked. He tried to maintain a neutral tone of voice, but now that it was pretty much assured that Malistaire was planning an all-out attack to Wizard City, he couldn't help but remember what had happened to Safir. That boy had ignored the signs and died for it. If there was anything Shard could do to actually survive, he would do it without any doubt.

"Let's see… If I remember correctly, when headmaster Ambrose first came to Wizard City, which at the time was mostly just a chunk of land with Bartleby at its centre, he disturbed a great evil. Now, some accounts differ, but some say that it was a foul beast, made of shadow and flame, while other accounts refer to it as a powerful wraith."

"It is far more possible it was a wraith… The historian, who wrote all about the great shadow dwelling in the deeps, was known to have an unhealthy passion for Grendleweed. What is certain, is that the creature had immersed itself in the secrets of the great beyond, and used Bartleby's magic for its own gain by constantly hiding in its shade."

"Of course, Ambrose being Ambrose, defeated the Wraith and drove it away in no time. What the headmaster didn't account for, was that the creature sought revenge. It waited in the shadows until Wizard City was completely built, and only then, it made its appearance. With powerful magic, it tried to sink the entire city underground and managed to bring down part of it… That mostly explains why some streets are now inside of caves, but anyhow… All the wizards of the city led a joint attack against the creature and its army, and weakened it to a point where it was too weak to retaliate, managing to seal it for good."

"This is where it gets sketchy… The myth says that during the years before the Wraith tried to sink the city, it amused itself with experiments. It is said that buildings disappeared overnight, sinking deep under the ground never to be seen again. People did too, and very few managed to come back from under the earth. Those who did, spoke of an entire city of ghosts thriving on the other side of the world, calling it the Sunken City. The Grub is said to dwell there, a particularly strong ghoul, and a servant of the evil Wraith."

"Woah! And they think this place is real?" Kane's interest had been peaked, and despite his brooding mood, he still kept his enthusiasm for anything adventurous. Maybe as of now, he needed adventure more than ever before…

"I don't think anyone in their sane mind would think it is… I mean… the Wraith existed, but building an entire city without anyone noticing is a bit farfetched. Even Professor Drake, who gives lectures about the Wumpus, of all things, thinks it's rubbish."

Kane blinked. "Then we just have to find it. It would be awesome, wouldn't it?"

"No way. First and foremost, there is no possibility that there will be any information on it anywhere in the Library, nobody takes that Myth seriously. Secondly, if the headmaster himself failed to find it after years of research, we can't possibly hope to stumble upon it in a few hours."

"Oh… what do we do, then?"

"My suggestion would be to stay away from danger and focus on the upcoming duel against Evelyn and Alex. Not to sound pessimistic, but we are hardly prepared for it."

After hearing Rose's explanation, Shard knew exactly what the next step would be. Of course, it was risky, but he couldn't follow Rose's advice and do nothing. If he did, then fate would make sure he died during the attack. He had to act before it was too late and find out more about Malistaire's plans. "We have to drink the Potion of History. Darkkettle is trying to tell us something about Malistaire's plans with the wards."

Rose rolled her eyes in exasperation. "That's the opposite of what I think we should be doing!"

"Wait, wait, wait… we have to drink that suspicious looking potion coming from an even more suspicious crazy old witch who made it clear time and time again how much she hates novices?" Kane asked. He slowly cracked a smile, slightly overcoming his grief. "If that's the case, let's do it!"

"I think it is pretty clear to me. Malistaire wants to attack the city," Rose pointed out, still bitter because of how Darkkettle had used them to run errands.

"Yeah, but we don't know why. The potion might shed some light on it," Shard insisted.

"Does anybody actually know what it's supposed to do?" Emer asked.

"Not exactly, Professor Drake mentioned them once, mostly regarding how mana reading works and how everything is recorded in the Spiral. It is supposed to let us access these recordings far more easily…"

"So… we're gonna see some memories or something?" Kane wasn't too thrilled about it. They would have probably have gotten a better reaction from him if the potion was a potentially fatal poison.

"Seems like it… Something big must have happened under Bartleby," Rose confirmed.

Kane, potion in hand, stopped as he was about to open the vial."What does Bartleby have to do with anything?"

In response, Rose rolled her eyes. "Mrs. Darkkettle specifically told us to drink it in front of Bartleby. It won't work otherwise."

"Oh… forgot about that."

Emer turned towards Shard, a hint of hesitation in her eyes. "When are we going to do it?"

Shard didn't hesitate when he gave the answer. As things were unfolding thus far, it was very possible that he was going to die in the upcoming attack on the city. He needed to sort things out fast.

"Tomorrow," he said, hoping that he was still in time to change the future.

* * *

 **And another chapter done! Lots of topics discussed in this one from the undead attacks and Storm Medallions, to prophecies and strange memories. It took a while, but the little hints I've been leaving In previous chapters are finally connecting together to reveal more of what's really going on. Of course, I did change a bit of stuff along the way, giving some backstories to bosses and characters… otherwise it would all be: [insert boss name] is summoned by Malistaire.**

 **Susie Gryphonebane became more relevant and certainly more powerful than her in-game counterpart, but also got a bit of a problem with public speaking. She did actually send the player to talk to Duncan which was a few metres apart, so probably socialization isn't her forte even in game.**

 **As always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated so don't hold back and tell me what you think with a review! If you feel like it, that is… If you have any questions, I'll also try to answer those at the best of my abilities.**

 **Next chapter will take a while to come out, I'm still busy and haven't rid myself of that nasty writer's block completely… until then, take care! :)**


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